Ozai's Vengeance
by Fandomme
Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to heal the victims of an epidemic spreading throughout the Fire Nation. Katara Zuko
1. Prologue

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Fandomme**

**Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to heal the victims of an epidemic spreading throughout the Fire Nation. [Katara/Zuko**

**Rating: T for Teen**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon, not me. No profit is made by this story. **

**Notes: This story begins with a Katara/Aang pairing. Have no fear -- it quickly disappears. Keep the faith!**

≅

**Prologue: Eulogy**

Katara's eyes opened slowly. Hay prickled her face and she couldn't hold back a sneeze. Disorientation ruled for a moment before she remembered where they were -- the stable. Pale pre-dawn light seeped in through one unshuttered window. In a little while, the children at the Southern Air Temple orphanage would start their morning chores. Beside her, Aang lay awake on his side. He stared at her with beautiful, clear eyes that had not changed in ten years. He smiled before saying in a sad, resigned voice: "I've just had a talk with Roku."

Perhaps from her husband's tone, or perhaps because she knew that any discussion held between the thousand and one Avatars almost never meant anything good for anyone, a cold weight settled in Katara's stomach. Aang took her hand. "Roku says that I spent too much time with Appa in the iceberg," he said. "Every Avatar is connected to his animal guide. But apparently I shared too much of my own energy with Appa while we were in the iceberg."

She pushed herself up on her elbows and studied the giant sleeping animal. Foam dribbled from one corner of the great beast's mouth. His breath shuddered in and out with a wheeze like a dry hinge. He was the last of his kind, and where once there had been numerous monks who had shepherded hundreds of flying bison into the world, there was now only one, and he could ask none of his predecessors how to treat his friend's illness. "When Appa goes, I'm going with him," Aang said.

"No," Katara said. She straightened up and looked at Aang. He sat up to listen. "You need to talk to Roku again. There were a thousand other Avatars, and a quarter of them were airbenders. They know how to treat flying bison. You can ask them for help."

Aang looked at Appa, then his wife. He rested one hand on the bison's enormous paw, and squeezed Katara's hand with his other. "It doesn't work that way, Katara."

She withdrew her hand and crossed her arms. "You're the Avatar. _Make_ it work."

"I can't." He shrugged. "It's my time."

For a moment Katara thought she would end Aang's life right then and there with her own two hands, if he could let it go that easily. "How can you say that? Don't you _want _to live?"

"Of course I do. I love this world."

And that, she realized with clenched and trembling fists, was the core of the problem. Aang loved the _world._ He loved her, yes. He loved Sokka and Toph and Iroh and even Zuko. He loved the orphans of war for whom he had re-opened the Southern Air Temple. But he also loved blades of grass and drops of dew. He loved every partially-frozen frog used to treat fevers, and every stinking hog-monkey squealing from every tree. He loved every speck of dirt of the long and difficult path that they had walked together. And he loved them all _equally._

"You loved this world enough to save it, but not enough to try to stay?"

Aang frowned. "That's the wrong way to think about it."

"Why? Is it not _enlightened_ enough? Is it not _detached_ enough for the Avatar?"

"No," Aang said in a measured voice, and she knew from this single syllable that he responded gently only out of strong self-control, "it's not _peaceful_ enough for an Air Nomad." He stretched a hand over the hay surrounding them. Air swirled beneath his open palm. Inside the miniature whirlwind were tiny hayseeds. They were almost translucent and Katara needed to squint to see them. "This is what our lives are like," Aang said. "Your life, the Fire Lord's, everyone in this world -- even me, the Avatar -- we're like this." He bent the air again, and blew the seeds away on a soft breeze. Katara did not see where they fell. "We're seeds carried on the universe's breath. We're small. We have great potential, but we are only subject to the whim of forces beyond our control."

He let his hand fall back to his lap. "At least, that's what airbenders say about death."

Through silent, angry tears Katara said: "Well, the Water Tribe thinks about it a little differently." She stood. Ignoring Aang's pleas for her to wait, she put one foot in front of the other and strode out into the misty dimness of the temple. In the early morning light, each monk's statue looked especially disappointed in her. She pulled her cloak a little tighter, and climbed the steps to the highest tower. A slight boy with dark hair and golden eyes stood in the middle of the room with a heavy leather glove on one hand.

"Sifu Katara!" he said, straightening. "I was just about to feed the dragon hawks, ma'am."

"I'm not here to criticize, Rizu."

The boy's shoulders fell as he exhaled in relief. "How can I help you?"

Katara cast her glance around the room. Inside their elegant cages, the dragon hawks shuffled on their perches. Not for the first time, she felt a little chilled when staring at their hooded eyes and cruel beaks. "Which of these is the fastest?"

Rizu grinned. "That'll be Zin, ma'am. The Fire Lord sent him specially."

She nodded. "Good. I have a message for General Iroh."

She sat at a tiny table while Rizu slid on his glove and carefully unlocked Zin's cage. It sat at the furthest end of the room, and even in the room's cloistered shadows she could see that he was the largest of them. Rizu chirruped and extended his arm into the cage. A tiny wedge of fear formed in Katara's throat as he did so -- she had seen the Fire Nation orphan tend his beloved hawks any number of times, but she still thought of them as dangerous creatures. The feeling passed when the hawk jumped onto Rizu's arm and let the boy stroke his throat. Rizu cooed reassuringly at the hawk and smiled. _Aang has made something beautiful here,_ she thought. _And I can't protect all of these lost children without him._

Rizu turned to her. "Have you written your message, ma'am?"

"No," she managed to say. She quickly drew a brush, ink, and paper close. Her hand took up the brush, dipped it in water, and swabbed it over the ink stone. The brush hovered over the empty page. The situation now felt more real than it had in the stable, when Aang had explained his imminent demise in the same calm, careful way he might tell a child the rules to Fireball. _How do I tell him that Aang is dying?_ A droplet of black ink dripped down and spattered where it fell.

"Are you all right, Sifu Katara?" She looked up. Rizu seemed blurry until she blinked and realized to her horror that she had been weeping. "Your hands are shaking," Rizu said.

_The Avatar is dying,_ a scared child's voice within her shouted. _We just got him back, and now he's going to leave us! And he's fine with it!_ _He's just going to abandon us and not give a damn, because that's what Avatars do!_

Katara ignored the petulant, terrified voice within and summoned the reserves of courage that had served her so well against Azula, Ozai, and all the others. She used it to smile and say in a steady voice that everything was fine. She held it there until her hand had scrawled the words, rolled the scroll, and tucked it into its ivory carrying tube. She marshaled it long enough to tie the tube to Zin's impatient leg, smile at Rizu, and sweep herself down the high tower and into her own bedroom, where she could finally let herself shriek into her pillow.

≅

General Iroh arrived weeks later. He brought a tank full of new toys and spicy Fire Nation candy. He replenished the temple's tea stocks. He even let the youngest children hang on his leg as he trudged up the winding path from the rope-and-pulley lift at the summit's rim. The sight of him as he finished the ascent surrounded by laughing orphans, his body still round and thick and jovial, almost cut her off at the knees. She fisted her hands to keep from running toward him and throwing her arms around him -- something she had never had the chance to do with her own father after he left, a small part of her noted. _His wife, his son, his brother and niece, and now Aang -- will Iroh outlive all of us? _ Katara greeted Iroh in the courtyard and he presented her with a single panda lily. "I saw an old friend on the way here," he said, tucking it into her hair.

Katara tried to remember a time when she had hung on Aunt Wu's every word. It seemed so very long ago. "And what did she say?"

Iroh took one of her hands in both of his. They seemed terribly old now, dry and covered in liver spots. "She said your story is not over," he said. "Now, Lady Katara, let us see the Avatar."

≅

"Where's Zuko?" Sokka asked when Iroh had finished his pleasantries.

"I want to know where he is, too," Toph said, folding her arms. "I thought Sparky and Twinkletoes had made up."

"Prin--" Iroh seemed to catch himself, and smiled ruefully. "Fire Lord Zuko is in the middle of trade negotiations with representatives from the Earth Kingdom," he said. "They should be finished in a few days. When he has hammered out a new agreement, he will join us."

"In case you hadn't noticed, we don't have a few days," Sokka said in a terse whisper. He pointed at the stable door. "Aang hasn't left that stable for weeks. He's sick, and the least Zuko could do is show up to say-"

"Quiet!" Katara hissed. She gave her brother the hard stare that usually brought him in line. "I didn't invite you all here so that you could fight. Aang has convinced himself that he's dying, and he refuses to do anything to stop it. We're his family -- we have to remind him of his attachments to this world. Without a reason to fight this illness, Aang will let it overtake him."

Sokka and Toph nodded. Iroh looked uncomfortable and shifted his weight from one foot to the other before nodding in agreement. Katara took a deep breath and threw her shoulders back. She drew aside the heavy bolt closing the stable doors, and pushed them open. "Aang, you have visitors," she said.

"Hello, everyone," said her husband's thin voice from the hay-scented shadows, and the others dashed forward. Katara moved to follow, but Iroh's hand stayed her.

"We need to talk," he said.

Katara turned. "I know," she said. She drew him aside. "Did your research yield anything? Have you ever heard of something like this happening before?"

Iroh's hands found his sleeves. "My experience of the Spirit World is not nearly as vast as the Avatar's, Lady Katara. I see only what little the spirits reveal to me -- enough to know that their world is nothing to trifle with."

Her eyes narrowed. "You're not answering my question."

"Only because I know you will not like my answer."

She barely repressed a snarl. "Are you this evasive with your Fire Lord?"

"Only when I want him to see the truth for himself," Iroh said. Katara's mouth opened, but he held a single finger up. "Lady Katara. The truth I want you to see is that your husband, the Avatar, must gather his energies to prepare himself for the next leg of his journey. If he does not establish a strong sense of himself before death, he will be of no use to the next Avatar as a mentor. Avatar Roku did not have this luxury -- why do you think that Aang needed to visit the temple to speak with him at first? It was because he was cut down before he was ready."

Katara frowned. "So, if Aang fights this illness but dies anyway, he can't mentor the next Avatar?"

Iroh nodded. "Yes. I'm sure that Roku has communicated this to Aang." He sighed. "More importantly, Aang is the last airbender. The airbenders were very particular about what to do with a body after death. Like the firebenders, they cremated it. But then, the friends and family used their abilities to send the ashes far away, where the wind could disperse them." Iroh's eyes settled on her heavily. "That way, the airbender could leave this world in peace knowing that his family had truly let him go."

Anger threatened to overwhelm her. "We'll let go of Aang when we're good and ready! In case you hadn't noticed, he's more than the Avatar -- he's the caretaker of these children! Children the Fire Nation orphaned!"

Iroh quickly hid his shock and hurt, but not before she noticed. Instantly, a wave of shame soaked her and put out her anger. "I'm sorry," she said after a moment. "That was a low thing for me to say. But…"

"But you're wondering how you will possibly manage once Aang is gone," Iroh said.

It hurt to admit it. "Yes."

Iroh put a hand on her shoulder. "I am not saying that letting the Avatar go will be easy," he said. "I am saying that you will need to respect his traditions the way he has respected yours. Aang is the last of his people, but he has done everything he can to keep their ways alive -- he still refuses to eat meat, wears his nomadic colors, and shaves his head."

Katara did not mention how far Aang had gone to protect the last hope he had of preserving his people. His most selfish desire was not for Katara, but for more airbenders. Aang had asked for her hand only after completing an unsuccessful worldwide quest to find fellow survivors. The reason for their marriage remained a secret to all but Sokka and Toph. Katara and Aang cleaned their own rooms -- not even the children on laundry duty knew that the Avatar and his wife slept separately when not trying to conceive, and that they had not tried in years.

As though reading her mind, Iroh said: "Of course, he married. That is very unusual for one raised by monks. But I think it far wiser to choose a wife like you than to live alone."

Katara smiled mirthlessly. "Even if I can't save him in the end?"

Iroh squeezed her shoulder. "When you brought the Avatar back to the world, you saved us all," he said. "Without your strength, your friend could not face this final challenge by himself."

Despite herself, Katara felt herself beginning to cry. "He's not by himself," she said. "We're all here!"

"Death is the final secret, Lady Katara," Iroh said. "It is one all of us learn in solitude."

≅

Days later, Aang opened his eyes and said: "I've been conserving my energy, Katara."

He said it in the same tone he had used as a child when he asked her to watch what he would do next. Penguin-sledding, riding an elephant koi, fashioning a necklace -- it took her years to see those appeals for love for what they were. "You don't have to show off for me any more, Aang," she said.

He smiled. "I know. I just want to make things a little easier. Could you open the stable doors, please?"

Puzzled, she stood and unbarred the heavy doors. She threw them wide. Sunlight washed across the stones at her feet. "Like this?"

Aang nodded. He stood. He looked so terribly thin and pale that her knees almost buckled, but she firmed her stance in the way of all waterbenders and waited. Her husband brought his arms up gracefully, and drew a deep breath. And in the single second between knowing what he was about to attempt and opening her mouth to protest, she watched the last airbender send a ten-ton flying bison coasting through the air to the courtyard outside. Aang came with him and so did some hay. Aang floated -- an autumn leaf on a breeze, dry and brittle but still bright -- until he settled in his old place between Appa's horns. The bison made an affirmative sound, as though they were setting off on a journey together. Katara ran after them.

"Why?" she asked, staring up at her husband.

Aang smiled tiredly. "When Zuko comes, he and Iroh will know what to do," he said.

"No." She shook her head until her braid whipped around her. "You can't do this."

"You're right." His gaze softened. "I already let you go once, Katara. I can't do it a second time." Aang frowned, and patted the space beside him. "I forgot my glider. Can you get it for me?"

She had already turned to run away when she heard a softly murmured "Yip, yip." She spun just in time to see her husband fall to one side as the animal beneath him sighed its last. A gust of wind tore through the Southern Air Temple, knocking her to her feet. When it left, the air seemed cleaner and colder than it had before, and she did not find the strength to stand until her brother came and called her name.

≅

Zuko arrived at sunset. The children noticed his war balloons first. Rationally, Katara knew that she should meet him as she had met Iroh. But as the hour passed she continued staring at the two bodies of her friends, and only spoke with the Fire Lord when he fell on his knees beside her. She watched Zuko bow until his forehead touched the stones. He remained that way for a long time, and she thought he might be weeping. But when he rose his face was dry, and only the left half of his face shone in the glossy, melted way of all scarred flesh.

"There was so much I hadn't told him, yet," Zuko said, staring straight ahead.

"I know," she said. She turned, and suddenly they were back in a crystalline cave, regarding one another as people for the first time. "He forgave you years ago, you know. We all did."

His lip twitched as though she had struck him, but after a moment he said: "I have yet to deserve your forgiveness, or his."

Katara had no idea what to say. In the years after the war, she and Aang had come to think of Zuko as a distant relative of sorts -- never really available, and sometimes difficult to understand, but harmless. Since saying this would have been condescending at best, she said only: "Aang knew you were coming. He said you and Iroh would know what to do. I'm not sure what he meant."

Zuko blinked, and glanced at Appa's magnificent corpse and the much smaller one atop it. "I am," he said. "Leave it to us." He turned to her. "When is the funeral?"

"Tomorrow," she said. "Your uncle is in the kitchen preparing a feast."

Zuko rose. "I will go and help him." He lingered there for a moment as though he had something further to say, but turned on his heel and left. She heard from him only hours later when Iroh, covered in flour and spatters of cooking oil, told her that his nephew wished to eulogize the Avatar.

"Let him," she said, thinking of the things left unsaid between the Zuko and Aang, and wondering how she had come to live in a time when the Fire Lord spoke for the Avatar at his passing.

≅

The day dawned bright and clear. Katara wore her old blue dress like a coat over a simple white shift, and covered her hair in the beaded veil she had worn the day of her wedding. After trying unsuccessfully three times to braid her hair, she let it hang loose.

In the courtyard, Appa's horns were adorned with flowers from the garden, and the area at his feet was spread with his favorite fruits and the sweet cakes Aang had liked. Sokka stood with something in his hands and knelt, laying it down carefully.

"What is that?" she asked.

"It's a piece of unfried dough," he said. "You know, to commemorate the day the Avatar was not cooked in oil."

Katara almost laughed, but it turned to tears too soon because Sokka was crying loud enough to drown out the sound of birds. They crouched on the stones and wept together. A distant part of her realized that they had not done this since hearing of Hakoda's demise, but that earlier loss had been easier to bear with Aang there and a world to save. Now there were different responsibilities entirely -- mouths to feed, children to comfort, an enclave to protect and other benders to train. Small tasks, not nearly as dangerous as defeating a blood-thirsty Fire Lord and his conniving daughter, but terrifying all the same for the way they seemed to never be finished.

Over Sokka's shoulder, she saw Iroh escorting Toph to the courtyard, and many children following them. Zuko brought up the rear. Fire Nation orphans surrounded him. He looked as though he hadn't slept. When the children, youths, and those who volunteered at the temple had settled in the courtyard, Katara stood and thanked them for their attendance. She had no idea where her voice came from or how she managed to stand without wavering, but she watched Sokka set his shoulders as she spoke and saw the uncertainty leave Toph's face, replaced by the steadiness Katara loved. She took a deep breath and announced that the Fire Lord had journeyed far to bid farewell to the Avatar. When she sat, Sokka took one of her hands and Toph took the other. She held on tight. She had the strangest feeling that if she let go, she might fly away.

Zuko ascended the dais slowly. He wore a robe of pure white, and the delicate crown circling his head gleamed. He surveyed the courtyard for a moment. The assembled children straightened under his gaze. He drew a deep breath before speaking.

"In the Fire Nation, we learn that the fire that burns brightest also burns most briefly," he began. "This proverb could not be truer for Aang, the last airbender.

"Fire was the final element that Aang mastered, but in many ways it was the one most suited to him. For Aang was the light in a world shrouded in darkness. He kindled hope wherever he stood. His warmth could thaw the coldest heart.

"The Avatar's duty is to bring balance and harmony to the world, and it is a testament to how far we had fallen that Aang displayed such a peaceful, loving spirit. He was the perfect hero for his age -- a man who could both punish injustice…and forgive those among him who least deserved his kindness." Zuko's voice roughened a little there, and Katara watched him take a shaky breath. It was the only visible clue to his grief, aside from the tears streaming silently from his unmarked eye.

"I had the strange fortune to know Aang as both opponent and ally," Zuko continued after a moment. "In both cases, Aang proved to be an inspiration to better myself. For a long time, I thought that chasing the Avatar meant winning honor for myself. But now, I see that what I was chasing was not the Avatar, but rather what the Avatar means to us all -- the peace, love, and hope that he strove daily to instill in others. What I wanted was not a trophy, but an example to follow. All Fire Lords should be so lucky to see such a fine example of true leadership in their midst.

"For although Aang was the last of his people, and though there can be only one Avatar at a time, Aang's strength lay not in his uniqueness, but in his ability to encourage excellence in others. He did not fight or win his battles alone. Instead, he relied on the diverse talents he recognized in his friends. He respected the efforts and sacrifices made by his companions. He reminded us of our potential and unlocked it in everyone he met. That strategy is one we must remember as we turn to face our destiny without him at our side.

"I know that the world seems darker now with the Avatar gone. But the gifts Aang left us with do not fade with time. Like stones that remain warm long after the sun has set, we hold the Avatar's light within ourselves. The wisdom he imparted to us -- that we are all worthy of mercy, that we all must take care of the land and each other -- remains with us despite his absence. And like the first star of night, Aang's love for us continues burning from a distance. It may seem unreachable, but it has already conquered the darkness, and it will always be there when we think all hope has vanished."

Katara could scarcely breathe for the tears, but a quiet voice within said: _This is why he is the Fire Lord. This is why Aang trusted him, and why Iroh loves him. Aang was right -- Zuko did know exactly what to do._

"There is no way for me to repay the many favors that Avatar Aang granted me in his short time," Zuko said. "And now, I am ashamed to say that I cannot perform my final gesture of respect alone. I must ask for my uncle's assistance."

Iroh rose. He nodded at Zuko and lumbered over to Appa's other side. The two men bowed and assumed firebending postures. As one, they sent jets of flame straight for Aang and Appa's bodies. The pyre roared. The children scooted backward to avoid the heat. Zuko and Iroh remained long after Sokka and Toph had herded the children toward the funeral feast, making sure the fire never went out. Katara knew this because shortly after dawn, when the Avatar and his animal guide were only a great pile of ashes, a pair of strong arms that smelled of sweat and smoke lifted her from the ground and carried her to the room prepared for Zuko. Hours later she awoke there alone.

≅

After bathing and eating, Katara found Zuko on a small landing high above the main courtyard, directing a group of men and women in Fire Nation colors. She was surprised to notice that much of the pile of ash that Aang and Appa had left behind had already been taken by the wind. She had thought it would take longer. The others in the courtyard below avoided the mound, and she saw the way Zuko's eyes looked everywhere but at it. Upon catching sight of her, Zuko dismissed the soldiers. They jogged away in separate directions.

"Who are they?" Katara asked.

"Your new garrison," he said.

Part of her bristled at his choice of words. "We're not a colony."

He sighed. "I know that. I should have said that they are your new guard."

She frowned. "Guard?"

Zuko gestured at the misty peaks surrounding them. "You're isolated, here. There are thieves and renegade Fire Nation soldiers. I'm not leaving you unprotected."

"I'm a master waterbender-"

"You are _one_ master waterbender, surrounded by children who need you," Zuko said. "Fear of the Avatar kept outsiders in line, Lady Katara, but with him gone the threats increase tenfold. You need help." He squinted into distance. Near the stable, Iroh demonstrated firebending tricks to a group of Fire Nation orphans. "You have firebenders here who don't know the most basic safety procedures," he said in a gentler tone. "They haven't had parents and teachers instructing them in the rules they should have learned from birth. If I leave my best people here, there's a chance they'll learn."

For the time being, she decided to ignore his dismissal of her gifts and his paranoia about the threats he perceived in the outside world. She also decided to ignore the way he called her _Lady Katara_ -- Fire Nation men were so stiff and formal. "Your best people?"

He nodded. "They are part of my retinue," he said. "Iroh trained them personally to guard me and the palace."

Katara sputtered. "Are you insane? You can't just leave them here! You'll be in danger the moment you set foot on your balloon!"

Zuko shook his head. "My uncle is surer protection than an army of firebenders," he said. "And there are more guards waiting for me at the palace." He withdrew a small bag and handed it to her without looking her in the eye. "There is more of that as well, if you need it."

Katara opened the bag. Inside was a cluster of gold pieces. Her pride wanted to tell him that they didn't need his money. But her manners said: "Thank you. Your name will be honored along with the other donors on the day of gratitude."

"Your donations will drop once the world learns that the Avatar no longer lives here," Zuko said, looking away. "Tell me when that runs out. I'll send more."

"Zuko, Aang never asked for reparations," Katara said. "And I know that you've had to lower taxes to maintain favor-"

"That isn't Fire Nation money, it's _my_ money." He swallowed. "It used to be Ozai's and Azula's and Zhao's money. I made it when sold their possessions or melted them down." His hands clenched and unclenched. "I stripped their ships, their rooms, anything I could find. I took apart Zhao's house. You could be carrying his gilded toilet seat, for all I know."

_Zuko never gives up, _her brother's voice said inside her mind. She should have known that Zuko would take his vengeance -- and his penance -- this far. She hefted the bag. "Is Ozai's crown in here?"

"It was the first thing I melted."

A tiny smile touched her lips. "Thank you."

Zuko nodded. He watched a dragon hawk make a wide circle high above the temple's blue spires. "I meant what I said yesterday." He looked down at the courtyard where Aang and Appa's ashes sat. "For the longest time, I thought that all I had to do was find the Avatar, or figure out Azula's game. I thought that when I finally did those things, it would all be over. I would have won."

Something like a smile tugged at his mouth. "But now I see that it's never over. The problems a Fire Lord has to solve would have confounded Azula. My time searching for the Avatar was idyllic -- I could be my own man. Now I worry over the price of rice and who will farm it, since most of the eligible men are dead or wounded and the Fire Nation has no hold over the Earth Kingdom's land."

He faced her. "The Fire Nation has a hunger it cannot sustain. Our former enemies are laughing at us. The one man who could have negotiated a settlement is dead. I'd kill Ozai all over again for doing this to us."

"Zuko," Katara said. Uncertain, she took a step forward. She rested her fingers on his scar for a moment. Then as now, he closed his eyes and went perfectly still. Sighing, she let her arm fall and wrap itself around his middle, where her other arm joined it. His own arms closed around her a moment later. She laid her head on his chest and heard his heart hammering inside.

"I'm scared, too," she whispered.

As though hearing an important cue, Zuko tightened his grip. He seemed to surround her. His fingers dug into her middle, and his chin rested on her shoulder. To her surprise, Katara felt something within her let go. The awkwardness the Fire Lord usually inspired within her vanished. She held him closer, the way a small part of her suspected she always should have, and sighed. Zuko did the same. They stood together until an especially harsh mountain wind tore the veil from Katara's hair, and Zuko's hand reached out to catch it. Carefully, he looped it over one arm before handing it back to her.

"A woman my sister's age already the Avatar's widow, and the Fire Lord clinging to her like a child," he said. "What a strange world we live in."

"It's the world we agreed to look after," Katara said.

He nodded and squared his shoulders. "I have to leave tomorrow," he said. "If I stay any longer, my uncle will take it upon himself to train all your firebenders and commandeer your kitchen."

"And we can't have that."

"He's my best general. I can't lose him to a group of orphans, no matter how charming they are." His smile was genuine now, if barely visible. "You've done well with them."

"I had good practice," she said, without thinking.

Zuko gave her an odd look, but had no chance to ask anything further. Rizu arrived with a message from the Fire Nation that set Zuko's teeth on edge, and the Fire Lord excused himself. Katara saw him only briefly the next day, at dawn when he and Iroh left. "There is always a place for you at the palace," Iroh said, taking hold of her shoulders. "Don't let these children run you ragged. Even a master waterbender needs her rest, and the residential wing at home is built over an excellent hotspring!" Iroh turned to Sokka and Toph. "That goes for the both of you, too!"

"I'm down," Sokka said.

"Me too," Toph said.

"Wonderful! We'll have a feast! I can-"

"Uncle," Zuko said. "We should go before the winds change."

Iroh rolled his eyes before settling his gaze on Katara. "You must let us know the moment you need anything," he said.

"I will."

"Good." Iroh smiled, and quickly enfolded her in a hug. "You've grown up so fast, Lady Katara," he said in her ear. "I never met your parents, but I'm sure that they are proud."

"Thank you," she whispered.

He pulled away, hugged Sokka and Toph (he lingered with her, too) and ascended Zuko's war balloon. Zuko held her eyes for a moment, nodded, and sent a jet of flame into the balloon's cavern. Katara watched them fly away as children from all over the temple ran from their various places, waving and shouting their goodbyes. She stood staring until the red balloon became the size of a copper piece in her vision, then turned away and let her charges lead her by the hand.


	2. Chapter 1

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to heal the victims of an epidemic spreading throughout the Fire Nation. [Katara/Zuko**

**Rating: T for Teen**

**Disclaimer: ATLA belongs to Nickelodeon and VIACOM. Not me. No profit is made by this story.**

_Years Later_

"Well?" Zuko asked. "How bad is it?"

Iroh's clasped his hands behind his back. He shifted weight from heel to toe and back again. His eyes searched the ceiling, then the floor. And with his gaze, Zuko's hopes sank.

"I see," he said.

"The sickness takes young and old alike," Iroh said. "The healers can find no common denominator. The symptoms sometimes vary. But it all ends one way."

Zuko's eyes narrowed. "Madness."

The Fire Lord took a deep breath. He stared at his mother's study -- it remained one of the few places he felt comfortable in the palace, despite his years ruling there. For what felt like the hundredth time, his gaze focused on the map dominating one wall. His eyes drifted over the bays and mountains to the tiny refining town of Tetsushi, situated at the extreme tip of the northernmost island in the Fire Nation archipelago. The sickness had originated in Tetsushi months ago. The town's doctors reported isolated incidents of unshakeable nausea, then vomiting. But the illness spread and grew. Men and women, rich and poor, it seemed to cut them all down: first came the stomach ailments, then a malaise that kept them bedridden. Their lips and the skin around their eyes went blue; they were wracked by convulsions, then rigidity, and finally death. All accounts described the affliction as incredibly painful. Now the sickness had spread to nearby communities. Zuko had no clue how to stop it.

"They're calling it 'Ozai's Vengeance,'" Iroh said.

Zuko shot his uncle a look telling the old man not to risk another word. He pushed back from his desk, upsetting a lacquered brush-holder as he did so. The brushes tumbled to the floor. Ignoring them, he strode past his uncle toward.

"Lord Zuko, where are you-"

"How long will it take a message to reach the Southern Air Temple?" Zuko looked over his shoulder. "You correspond with her, don't you?"

Iroh sighed. "You would know that if you wrote her a letter once in a while, Zuko."

He was not to be deterred. "How long?"

"A little more than a week, using the fastest dragon-hawk," Iroh said. "But don't expect to get much use out of the bird when it returns."

"It's a small price to pay." He pushed the door aside with one hand. "Tell the men in the arsenal to ready their fastest boat. They're to send it as soon as my hawk leaves the aviary. I'll get word to the southern balloon station."

Iroh frowned. "Shouldn't you wait for Lady Katara's reply? It's rude to expect her to visit simply because you demand it."

Zuko rounded on him. "My people are dying, Uncle! They need a master healer, not country doctors who think Ozai's spirit is punishing them. I'm not demanding, I'm pleading."

The words sounded pathetic in his ears. He recovered himself and added: "If she was good enough for the Avatar, she's good enough for the people of Tetsushi."

Iroh looked as though he had something further to say, but he remained silent. He exhaled slowly, drew himself to his full height, and left the room. Zuko watched him go. And despite several moments' meditation later that evening, he was unable to shake the feeling that he had just treated Katara like a weapon in his armory, not a person -- and definitely not a friend. He had the strangest suspicion that Azula would have been proud.

≅

Lady Katara of the Southern Air Temple, "The Bloodbender," as she was known in the stories that had cropped up since Ozai's defeat, arrived weeks later on a Fire Navy ship. The sun stood at its zenith. Behind them lay the capital city of Kaino-tama, a series of red tile roofs spreading from the hillside palace on down to the sea and its islands in the distance. Squinting, Zuko saw Katara as a speck of blue against gray iron. He shaded his eyes with one hand as the speck grew larger and larger until he could pick out her hands clenched on the ship's railing. She wore a braid coiled into a low bun secured with hair-sticks he recalled having been a gift from his uncle. From high above, she waved to him and he felt something within loosen just a little. _She's safe. She's here, and she can help._ He lifted one hand in greeting. Wind whipped his face.

The ships creaked, and its black prow fell suddenly, exposing the staircase. Katara picked her way down, a bag over one shoulder and a water-skin at her hip, her blue skirts pinched up between two fingers. Iroh was there first and let Katara out of the basket before enfolding her in a mighty embrace. Katara cast a surprised look over his shoulder to Zuko, who merely nodded. _Uncle has wanted her to visit for years. Now he has his wish. _

Iroh threaded Katara's arm through his and they walked to Zuko, who bowed deeply. "Lady Katara," he said. "Thank you for arriving on such short notice. Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience my request must have caused."

Katara's mouth fell open, and a tiny, smug part inside Zuko punched the air. Seeming to recover herself, Katara smiled and said: "See? I always said you could be nice."

"Tell no one," Zuko said, and took his place beside her. She stood, a soft indigo figure between two ochre ones, and looked between the two men. "Would you like the tour, or a meal?"

"I'd like a bath," Katara said. "Coal smoke isn't exactly great for the skin."

"What a wonderful idea," Iroh said, as they walked on. A rickshaw pulled by rhinos stood flanked by guards. One of them opened the door, and Iroh beckoned Katara inside. "Your room is close to a charming little hot spring. I'm sure you'll find it very relaxing." He held up a finger. "I must have some tea sent to your room!"

Beside him, Katara and Zuko shared a look and rolled their eyes.

≅

"It's very…red," Katara said, staring at the room before her. Iroh had excused himself to fetch the tea, and now Zuko stood alone with the Avatar's widow in what was once his childhood bedroom.

"What are these curtains for?" Katara asked, stepping closer to the bed. She reached for the gauzy red curtains. As her fingers traced the embroidery at their edge, bells tinkled softly.

"Security," Zuko said. "It's very hard to disturb the curtains without triggering those bells. I was trained to listen for them."

Katara turned. "This was your room?"

He nodded. "It's the safest in the residence."

"Is that why getting here felt like going through a maze?"

"Yes. It's also why you'll find one of these in your room." He pointed to a slender, dragon-shaped gold pipe along the joint where the wall met the ceiling. The dragon's mouth opened near the top of the door. "These are pneumatic pipes," he said. "Master firebenders can send heat from specific points in the palace to close or open doors as they see fit. If the Fire Lord thinks his children are in danger, he can lock them in."

Katara's brows furrowed. "Enemies can't get in, but you can't get out, either." She turned to him. "Isn't that a little dangerous?"

"We're firebenders. We're used to it."

Katara hugged her arms. "It would feel like being in prison," she said. She threw her hands up. "Not that I'm accusing you of imprisoning me!"

"I know you're not," Zuko said. He surveyed the room. "Everything should be in order. If it isn't, inform the women posted at your door." He cleared his throat. "My uncle has taken your arrival as an opportunity to host one of his state dinners," he said. "You are the guest of honor."

Katara's palm slapped her forehead. "Iroh…" She shook her head. "I really just wanted to rest, and…catch up." Her hand fell. "Your letter said the situation in Tetsushi is dire. I'm going to need all of my energy for the trip, and for whatever healing I can do. I don't think we have time for ceremony, no matter how good the food is."

For a moment, it was so utterly like the old days that Zuko forgot to breathe. Old feelings re-kindled and his blood thrummed in his ears. Everything that had attracted him to her -- that frosty pragmatism mingled with unfailing compassion -- was still there, years later, after marriage and widowhood and reconstruction and everything he'd assumed would keep them apart. It stung him like one of his sister's betrayals, like life laughing at him all over again.

"Agreed," he said. "But Uncle reminded me that the people have never had a chance to properly show their gratitude."

Katara frowned. "I didn't ask for their gratitude. I was happy just to be alive."

Zuko nodded. "I know. But you helped end a war that brought Fire Nation soldiers home. You run an orphanage that takes in the firebenders that those soldiers left behind in the towns they pillaged. That gives them hope." He looked at the floor. "And you are the Av…_Aang's_ widow. You were closest to him. That counts for something."

She nodded, and took a step closer. "I thanked you for all of the donations," she said. "I mean, sometimes my messages must have come late because things at the orphanage get so busy, but-"

"I received them."

"Oh." She swallowed. "I guess being Fire Lord is busy, too."

"Yes. It is." He figured that now was as good a time as any to tell her. "I won't be making the trip to Tetsushi with you. I have commitments here."

Surprise wrote itself all over her face. "You won't?"

"Uncle will go with you. I can personally attest to the quality of his companionship on seafaring journeys." _And if I went with you, this feeling would eat me alive as surely as it did when we were younger._ "My men are good, but he's the only one I trust to keep you safe. With him at your side, I can put my mind to rest and concentrate on my duties here."

She seemed to make up her mind about something. "Well then, I won't trouble you any further. I'll see you at dinner."

No longer as dense as he had been all those years ago and knowing that he had been deliberately callous, Zuko said: "Lady Ka-"

"It's just Katara, Zuko," she said. "You've called me that since I married Aang. And in case you didn't know, we're no longer married." She fingered the necklace at her throat, and for the first time, Zuko noticed that the pendant the airbender had carved for her had been replaced by the one Zuko had carried so long ago -- her birthright.

"Your necklace," he said, automatically reaching for it and withdrawing his hand when he realized he had no right. _Fire Lords treat everything as though it is already theirs for the taking. Stop._ "I'm sorry."

"Twice in one day," she said. "You must be going for a record." Zuko tried not to let his disappointment show, but she said: "Zuko, I'm just teasing." She reached behind her neck and undid the necklace. She held it out for him to take. "Have a look. The two of you have obviously missed each other."

He grasped the necklace. The ribbon was new blue suede, but the pendant remained as smooth and cool to the touch as he remembered. It glimmered as he tilted it in the light, revealing hidden colors. That was one of his favorite features of the stone -- the way it looked one color when faced directly, but when turned even just a little, veins of light appeared and the whole structure changed.

"Why _do_ you call me Lady Katara?" she asked in a quiet voice. "You didn't do that before. And I don't call you Fire Lord Zuko. Do you want me to?"

His thumb idly traced the patterns that Master Pakku had carved. Katara had told him the story -- or rather, she had told it to Toph and Iroh one evening, and he had overheard. His uncle had commented that Pakku had good taste.

"No, I don't," Zuko said. "You're not one of my subjects. There's no reason for you to call me Fire Lord."

"So why do you call me Lady Katara?"

"Because it is the highest title for women we have," he said. "If my sister had stolen Ozai's throne, her ministers would have called her Lady Azula."

She folded her arms. "But I don't rule a country."

Zuko's thumb skimmed the surface of the stone."True," he said, "but it's how I was raised to show respect."

Again, she stepped closer. "Can't we just be friends?" Her fingers folded tightly. "If we're supposed to be equals, can't you treat me like one instead of imposing a double-standard?"

His face rose, and she held up one finger. "I know you respect me," she said, effectively pre-empting him. "I respect you, too. You know that. But that doesn't mean you have to be so formal all the time." Her head tilted. "We used to travel together, remember? You used to eat my cooking and warm my bathwater."

_Why can I never refuse her, when she gets that look on her face?_ "I know," he said, "but I was never… You didn't… Not all of you thought…" He sighed. Even when he had tried explaining this feeling to his uncle in the past, it proved difficult. "Aang called your group a family. I was never a part of it."

Her mouth opened and made an "O" of sympathy. His guts twisted. He felt a little sick -- she pitied him. He had merely meant to clarify things, to say that he had known all along that he wasn't trusted or valued like the others, and that he understood why. Instead, he'd sounded like the angst-ridden teenager he'd been at the start of his quest._ Maybe you two girls should braid each other's hair, next,_ said a voice in his mind that sounded disturbingly similar to Mai's. "Stop looking so sorry," he said. "I only meant-"

"Oh, Zuko," Katara said, and unbidden her arms encircled him, her cheek firmly planted on his chest. "You never _stopped_ being part of our family."

Tentatively, his arms closed around her. Up close, he could feel all the curves he'd been curious about in younger days. They were more pronounced, now, womanly. He sighed and closed his eyes. "You're too generous," he said. "You always have been."

She squeezed him tighter, and his heart skipped. "A crowded fire means one cold man," she said.

"Is that an Air Nomad saying?"

"No," Katara said. "It's one hundred-percent pure Water Tribe wisdom." She pulled away to look at him. "It means that every family has someone who doesn't fit in quite the way they'd like to. Someone always gets pushed to the edge. That's the way Ozai treated you, isn't it? Of course you thought we'd do the same."

_And why not? The only way to truly prove myself was to kill Ozai. Otherwise, you could never be sure. _He saw Katara bite her lower lip. "Is it in really poor taste if I tell you how glad I am that your father is gone?" she asked.

His good eyebrow arched. "Katara, I took his head off his shoulders myself."

She grinned. "See? It's not so hard. No need for Lady-this or Fire Lord-that."

He rolled his eyes. "You may have converted me, but expect no change from my ministers. We will be Fire Lord Zuko and Lady Katara for the evening. I'm to escort you to dinner, and referring to you as anything less than Lady would be an insult to us both."

"Speaking of insulting, I should really have that bath," Katara said, taking a step

back. Her lips quirked. "I've gone and gotten my dirty peasant smell all over you, Fire Lord Good luck getting that out."

"You smell like ashes and the sea, like the Fire Navy," he said, before he could stop himself. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"Me? Insult the Fire Navy? Never."

"If you're going to be sarcastic, I have many duties that need fulfilling," he said, a smile tugging at his mouth's corners.

"You'd rather push paper than spend time with me," Katara said, her hand flying to her heart and her voice achieving melodramatic shrillness. "I'm crushed!"

"Clearly, you find pools of water more interesting than my company. I hope you and the bar of soap have lots to talk about." He could no longer restrain his smile. "Do dirty peasants even use soap?"

Katara launched herself at him, her hands flying, and he let her gently spar him all the way to the door. It wasn't until he was halfway down the hall that he realized he'd pocketed the necklace, and that it was too late to return it -- only a fool disturbed a waterbending master during her bath, after all.

≅

Hours later, Zuko stood behind her, fiddling with the necklace's clasp. "Nephew, they're about to start," Iroh said.

"I'm their Lord, and they cannot start without me," Zuko said, finally hooking the clasp shut. As though to prove him wrong, drums thundered outside the palace and he and Katara needed to hurry from their hiding place behind a black marble pillar. Iroh and a retinue of his personal guards preceded them. They emerged from the shadows to a plaza ablaze with torches and crowded with spectators. Fireworks raced skyward, exploding in brilliant reds and blues, briefly obscuring the moon and stars.

"What is this?" Katara asked under her breath.

"Your reception," Zuko answered.

"This is too much."

"This is nothing. Wait."

The drums quieted. Iroh announced his nephew, and Zuko stepped forward. The legions of his people bowed at the waist, and Zuko bowed in turn. They rose together, and he said: "Years ago, I had the honor of traveling with Lady Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. Then, she was simply Katara. Now, she is the Bloodbender, a master waterbender and consummate healer." Cheers rose almost immediately, and he waved them away. "When eulogizing her husband, I remarked that the strength of the Avatar and his companions was their trust in one another's abilities. Once, I asked my friends to help me overthrow Ozai and end the hundred-year war." Another cheer rose. Again, he dismissed it. "The time has returned for me to rely on my friends and their talents. I have summoned Lady Katara to assist with the investigation into the sickness at Tetsushi. I have no doubt that with her on our side we can rid our refineries of illness."

Whispers coursed throughout the crowd, and Zuko raised his hands. "Do not be afraid! It is tempting to think that because I have summoned such a powerful woman, the crisis is cause for despair. But it is not. I have asked Lady Katara's aid because she served the Avatar as healer before becoming his wife." He swallowed. "My people deserve the best, and I intend to give it to them." Applause rippled across the crowd. Zuko stepped back. He gestured for Katara to step forward.

Her face betraying her nervousness, Katara took one step. Row by row, the assembled citizens quietly fell to their knees, their foreheads touching the stones at their feet. Silence reigned, and for a moment there was only the crackle and spit of torches. He watched Katara take a deep breath, and her palms come out. He recognized the waterbending form and the small hairs on his neck prickled as she brought her hands up as though raising a great wave. The ranks of his people stood and their voices climbed to a deafening pitch. They stamped their feet and the earth rumbled. It reverberated up through the steps of his palace and into his feet. Wind came up and her voluminous sleeves of palest blue silk snapped and waved behind her. She held the crowd that way for a moment, tense and loud, before finally loosening her wrists, signaling them to be quiet.

"It is good to see that the Avatar's peace is alive and well in the Fire Nation," she said in a clear voice. "Aang would be proud to see you today, taking control of your destiny and accepting the responsibilities of a just co-existence. The Fire Nation, the Water Tribe, and the Earth Kingdom share that burden. At times, international compromise seems difficult or even unnecessary. But believe me when I say that compromise and cooperation is the heart of every family, and that the family is the core of a nation."

And as though she had recited a magic spell, the crowd erupted into screams and shouts. Fireworks shrieked into the night sky. Katara took her leave, bowing as she did so. "What did I say?" she asked after rejoining Iroh and Zuko.

"You told them the importance of family," Iroh said. "They must think you are here to wed."

A pause, then in unison: _"What?"_

≅

"And how fare your orphans, Lady Katara?" asked the Minister of the Interior. "I have heard you are training firebenders."

Katara laid down her chopsticks. "I personally only train them a little," she said. "Fire Lord Zuko left a garrison to assist me in their education."

"But if you have firebenders, why not send them here?"

She smiled pleasantly. "I wasn't aware that they were so welcome," she said. "When Fire Nation soldiers raped women in the Earth Kingdom, they abandoned both the women and their babies. Those children were outsiders inside their own communities -- children of the enemy, according to some. Firebenders or not, Aang and I took them in because no one came to claim them."

_So much for diplomacy,_ Zuko thought, carefully chewing a piece of grilled eel. The Interior minister's wife sniffed and said: "Surely such a topic is not appropriate dinner conversation."

"I'm sorry," Katara said. "Am I putting you off your food?"

"Nothing could be further from the truth," Iroh said quickly. "Your candor is most refreshing. This is a new era for the Fire Nation, one in which we must face harsh truths. Isn't that right, Lord Zuko?"

Zuko dabbed at his mouth with a napkin. Folding it, he smoothed it across his lap. "Quite so," he said. "My reign began with several uncomfortable revelations." He gave the Interior minister a look. "It's easy to blame faceless soldiers for their barbaric behavior. It is immeasurably difficult to look one's father in the eye and know he murdered your mother."

Silence descended over the table. The assembled ministers and their spouses looked pointedly at their food. Clearing her throat, Katara held up her arms to admire the gleaming fabric adorning them. "Speaking of dirty laundry, where did you find this beautiful kimono, General Iroh?"

Iroh chuckled, and then his face took on a more serious aspect. "It was my wife Ku Mei's, Lady Katara," he said. "It is perhaps a little old-fashioned for a woman of your youth."

"On the contrary, I enjoy it very much. I'm surprised your wife had a kimono in Water Tribe colors."

"Ku Mei was the heiress to a merchant vessel empire, and grew up on the seashore," Iroh said. "Blue was her favorite."

"I'm sorry I was never able to meet her," Katara said.

Iroh took a sip of liquor. "She would have liked you, I'm sure. But she died before you were born."

Katara's mouth turned downward. "My condolences," she said quietly.

"Nonsense," Iroh said. "When Ku Mei died, she left me a great gift -- my son Lu Ten." He gestured expansively around the table. "Many of the people seated here lost family members in the war. How many of them can say that they were able to sit with their loved ones at their passing, the way I did with my wife and son? You had no chance to bid farewell to your mother and father, Lady Katara. Compared to that, my time spent with Ku Mei and Lu Ten was a luxury."

The dinner guests remained respectfully silent at the memory of Ku Mei and Lu Ten. If things had gone differently, Zuko reflected, it would have been Lu Ten on the throne, if not Iroh himself. It was an odd thought -- Iroh almost never mentioned either his wife or his child, and so Zuko rarely considered them. It was strange to think that the boy of whom he had only hazy recollections could have been Fire Lord. It was even stranger that Iroh should speak of him in public.

Katara turned to Zuko, her eyes bright and wet. "You didn't tell me that your uncle was also an alchemist," she said. "He can turn lead into gold, and tragedy into treasure."

Zuko smiled. "May all Fire Lords be lucky enough to have men of such caliber at their service."

"Zuko, you're embarrassing me," Iroh said. "And this talk of tragedy does nothing for our guests' appetite." He clapped his hands. "Musicians! Something to brighten the mood!"

The Fire Navy Players struck up a pleasant rendition of "Girl Dancing at Spring Festival," and Zuko took up his eel. He saw Katara blink away tears before taking a measured bite of her rice. Eyes narrowing, he noted the presence of several pairs of eyes on the two of them. Was his uncle right? Katara was Aang's widow -- did his ministers think him so arrogant as to take the Avatar's place? _Maybe they think you're only worthy of his leftovers_, said his sister's specter, from a shadowy corner of his worst memories.

Not, he reflected later when he was alone in his quarters, that marriage to Katara would be a bad thing. His old feelings aside -- and they were easier to push away when he could not see her, or hear her laughter ringing down the halls of his residence -- he would have preferred her over a stranger. Iroh's marriage to Ku Mei was successful in no small part due to his uncle's love for women in general, and his ability to make them feel special. Most others were not so lucky in their political marriages. Zuko had a feeling he would be no different. His fumbling, coarse experiences years ago with Mai in Ba Sing Se did nothing to encourage his confidence. What attracted the women around him had nothing to do with him as a person and everything to do with his lineage -- a lineage he considered the worst strike against him. Privately, he suspected any woman who desired to carry on Ozai and Azula's bloodline of madness herself.

_Perhaps I could adopt one of Katara's orphans,_ he thought, and rolled over for sleep.


	3. Chapter 2

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to heal the victims of an epidemic spreading throughout the Fire Nation. [Katara/Zuko**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon, not me. No profit is made by this story.**

**Rating: T for Teen**

The next morning, a guard woke him early to tell Zuko that Iroh had fallen ill in the night. "A case of food poisoning, nothing more," Iroh said, from his bed.

"The chefs will answer for that," Zuko said.

Iroh waved his hand. "No, no. It is my own fault. I should have known not to mix such rich foods with so much alcohol. But just the thought of getting on a boat…" His eyes rolled dramatically, and he swooned on the pillows. "Nephew, I am afraid I am not well enough to make the journey with Lady Katara." He opened one eye. "You will have to do it in my place."

Zuko leaned back in his chair, all concern for his uncle washed away by a tide of annoyance and suspicion. "Perhaps we should let Lady Katara have a go at your stomach, old man. I hear she can work wonders on one's digestive fluids."

Iroh clutched his gut. "No!" He blinked. "I mean, that won't be necessary."

Zuko's head tilted. "You're not sick at all."

"I know my own stomach, Zuko, and the moment I step foot on that boat, Lady Katara will be treated to a display of its contents -- what little are left of them."

"And naturally, you think I should go with her instead. Me, the Fire Lord, risking contagion at Tetsushi."

Iroh arched a bushy eyebrow. "Are you implying that Lady Katara, you friend, is dispensable? Or that _I_ am dispensable? Are you such a great Fire Lord that you cannot risk yourself for the sake of your nation?"

His skin went cold at his uncle's rebuke. Zuko sighed. "You know that's not what I meant."

Iroh waited a moment before speaking. "Yes, I do. But you fought at Katara's side for the freedom of this nation, and now you have chosen her to help you protect it again. The least you can do is to lighten her load, as you did in the past."

"My affairs are not in order."

"I'm sure I could be convinced to take on your duties for a short time," Iroh said. "This bug of mine will vanish in a day's time."

"How convenient of your bug, to take my schedule into account," Zuko said. "One would think that it relished the idea of me escorting Katara to Tetsushi."

"One would."

"One might also think that your little bug might be the one buzzing about my alleged plans to marry her."

Iroh took a cup of tea between his fingers and delicately sipped it. "Your people see what they wish to see, Lord Zuko."

Zuko leaned forward. "Uncle, whatever my feelings may have been in the past, the past is where they should stay. Rumors like that will only confuse Katara and distract both of us from the mission."

Iroh's eyebrows rose. "Oh? Does that mean you have agreed to escort her?"

Too late, Zuko saw the trap close around him. He sighed, and nodded. "I will."

Iroh smiled. "I'm feeling better already."

≅

The boat cast off into cool morning air, with double the normal escort. "Why we need it is beyond me," Katara said. She summoned some water and dashed it against the hull. "I'm a master waterbender, after all."

"They're here in case any of our escort falls ill in Tetsushi," Zuko said, staring out at the sea. He turned to her, his hand gripping the railing. "I never thanked you for taking this risk."

"I have yet to thank you for sharing it with me," Katara said, and Zuko knew that his uncle had been right. It was better to accept this danger with her than expect her and Iroh to go it alone. He watched her stretch her arms over the railing to bend koala-otter shapes from the water. They leapt beside the boat, spiraling at a flick of Katara's wrist. Glittering, they dissipated into droplets and fell seaward. She laughed. "I've missed this."

"The coal smoke? The rations? Sailor humor?"

She made a face. "Waterbending, Zuko. I've missed waterbending."

He frowned. "You waterbend at the Southern Air Temple, don't you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Of course I do. But it's always rain-barrels or scraped knees, not this." She gestured, and twin waves of water rose alongside the boat and crashed harmlessly backward. "It's like painting a teacup when all you really want is a mural."

Zuko considered. As an element, fire was ever-present. He had no need to wait for it to make itself available. For Aang, air was the same. But water and earthbenders needed their element, and in the mountains Katara was surrounded by stone and wind. For the first time, he wondered what it was like to deny such an immense part of oneself.

"I've missed the sea," he said. "I used to think that I couldn't wait to leave it. But here, I was my own man."

"And you're not, now?"

"You're surrounded by children, and I'm surrounded by politicians. Our situations can't be that different."

"The children are a little more honest about their selfishness," Katara said, smiling.

"I'm sorry about the Interior minister's remarks," Zuko said. He bent his elbows and rested his forearms on the railing, leaning on them. "How are your charges, really?"

"Mostly good," she said. "They always want to see the outside world and have adventures."

"Adventure is overrated."

"That's what I tell them." She enlaced her fingers. "Your donations really have been helpful. It's nice being able to buy extra coal during those mountain winters."

He turned. "Do you need more money?"

She shook her head. "No, no. More is always appreciated, of course, but we're trying to be as self-sufficient as we can. I train the waterbenders to be healers, everyone receives lessons in craftsmanship -- carpenters and weavers and smiths donate their time to help the children learn. The more we can produce on our own, the more we can sell for profit and the less we depend on others. The orphanage should never be a burden."

"It isn't one," Zuko said. "It's a service. Services require public support." He opened his mouth to speak more on the subject, when he noticed a grinning officer standing behind them. He turned. "Do you have something to tell me, officer?"

The officer's eyes shifted between them. "Only that the rest of the crew was quite impressed with Lady Katara's waterbending, my Lord," he said, quickly schooling his features to a more military bearing.

"That's lovely. Now leave us."

The officer broke out into a huge smile, and dashed away. Zuko rolled his eyes and turned back to the sea. "Honestly, if my men are going to leer at you, you should consider spending the trip below decks."

"They weren't leering at me, Zuko. Men don't leer at me, any longer." She smiled. "He's probably part of that contingent that thinks we're negotiating a marital arrangement."

Zuko choked on his own spit. He coughed violently, feeling heat turn his unmarred ear a bright red. "It's a contingent, is it?" He swallowed. "Clearly, the contingent doesn't know me very well. If you were my…" He coiled his fingers about the railing to steady himself. "If we were married, I wouldn't allow you anywhere near Tetsushi."

"You wouldn't _allow_ me? Oh, please." She stretched. "I wouldn't do what you told me to even if you _were_ my husband. And you're right, that contingent doesn't know you very well." She turned to him. "To marry me, you'd at least have to answer my letters once in a while."

And with that, she headed below decks.

≅

Zuko awoke from a reading-induced afternoon doze with a throbbing pain in the scarred area of his face. Without looking outside, he knew a storm was on the horizon. The scar acted up in bad weather, an after-effect of Ozai's punishment that only worsened as Zuko aged. Sighing and rising to splash water on his face, he listened to the groans and creaks of his ship. The air had only grown colder. The dampness endemic to sea travel had arrived to coat his clothes and kink up his hair. He did his best to smooth it, and threw a second cloak over his clothes.

On deck, Katara stood in a standard waterbending posture. A water-whip gently circulated between her hands. "The whole deck will be soaked in under an hour," she said, sending the whip into an orb above her head, then a penta-pus. "I figured I might as well get some practice in."

"And here I thought you might bend the rain away from us," he said, circling her.

"Rain-bending is tedious and boring, and you know it," she said. "Why don't you just steam the storm away?"

"Oh, right," Zuko said, removing his cloak and continuing to circle her. "I'll just cook my own ship. That's a great idea."

Light trembled briefly in a distant, aubergine cloud. A moment later, thunder rumbled across the sea. Katara smiled. "How's your lightning-bending, Fire Lord?"

"Better than you remember."

Her smile broadened. "Promise?" She sent a water whip straight for him, and he somersaulted away before severing the whip with an arrow of flame. The whip quickly divided into a flogger, each of its nine tails edged in sparkling frost. It circled above her head. "Come and get me before I flog you in front of your own sailors, Zuko."

"With pleasure," he said, kicking a fireball straight for her head. She dodged easily. He followed his attack with a rapid-fire assault of punches and kicks. She batted them away with a quick round of the penta-pus.

"I don't see glowing," she said, her voice a taunting sing-song.

Zuko sent a ribbon of fire to circle them both and close her in. "Are you this petty with your students, or were you just starved for adult conversation?"

She sent a series of ice bolts his way. He wove around them as she said: "Fight me, Sparky, or I'll tell the men Toph's nickname for you."

He made a cinching motion with both hands, like tightening a string bag, and the ring of fire grew much smaller. It forced Katara to stumble forward. They now stood so close that her arms couldn't move to bend the melted water pooled at their feet. He leaned to speak in her ear. "Stop teasing me, or I'll tell them you usually train in your underclothes."

She turned to whisper something, but he heard her breath catch in her throat. "Zuko!"

And he looked up just in time to see the lightning pointed straight for them. He jabbed a fist in the air, intending to catch it and bend it away, but two watery hands reached up from the sea around them and clutched the lightning in a ball. The ball hardened to ice, and behind its mottled surface Zuko saw dancing light. He turned to Katara, whose wet, steely face betrayed the effort of holding lightning in her icy little jar.

"What were you thinking? I could have bent it away from us!"

"You'll get your chance," she said through gritted teeth. She shook a lock of wet hair away from her face. "I can't hold it."

"Then let it go!"

She kicked the water at their feet. "We're standing in the same puddle, Zuko. I don't care how strong you are, that lightning's going to shoot straight through you and kill both of us." She grimaced. "And now that I've got my hands full, I can't bend the water away."

"You unbelievably reckless woman," he said. "Stand still. This might hurt." And with that, he steamed the water away. "Happy?"

"Why didn't I think of that?" she asked, looking away for a second to examine the clean deck beneath their feet. As she did, the ice-bubble ruptured. It cracked and shot shards of ice in every direction. Zuko reached high to catch the lightning. He let it blaze a trail through him -- down, across, then out -- and it shot through his tingling fingers to the roiling whitecaps off the port bow. Not satisfied until he saw it touch the water and fizzle away, he turned to Katara.

She stood examining her right hand. A knife-like shard of ice stood embedded inside it. The shard had stabbed cleanly through the palm. It dripped watery pink blood. _She must have put her hands up to protect her eyes. She couldn't see to bend._ Katara managed a wan smile. "I'm really cold," she said, knees buckling.

Zuko reached and caught her. He slowed their mutual collapse and cradled her on his lap. He felt like throwing up. "Help me!" he shouted. "Someone help me!"

The sky split and rain poured down over them. Each rapid drop seemed impossibly loud. The glittering ice shard began to dissolve. Zuko rocked Katara gently. She shivered. "I think I can fix it," she said. Her teeth chattered. "If I could just focus…" Her eyes rolled back in her skull and she went limp.

≅

"Well, that was embarrassing," Katara said, one hand in a bucket. The water inside it glowed weakly. "I mean, fainting. What a girly thing to do." She laughed thinly.

"You sound like Toph," Zuko said. "Your body was in shock. It's normal."

They sat in his berth on the ship. It was to have been Iroh's, and it showed. The bedroom was hung with all manner of over-done tapestries, and pillows seemed to blossom from every surface. Katara sat propped up on a few of them now, a cup of rice wine at easy reach. Zuko ran trembling fingers through his wet hair, and said: "What possessed you?"

She sighed. "I told you. I thought it was going to hurt us."

"I could have protected us."

"You were distracted."

"Because you insisted on that stupid little sparring match-"

"You barely touched me!"

"Why should I risk hurting you for no reason? Just because you've got no one to practice with up ther-" Zuko's mouth clamped shut. He stared at Katara's face, and she looked down, blinking rapidly. "That was uncalled for," he said. "I'm sorry."

Her breath came light and shuddering. "Just because Aang's gone doesn't mean I'm anything less than a master waterbender," she said.

"I know it doesn't."

"I try to practice when I can. But there's a lot to do." Her face firmed. "I thought I could handle the lightning, and I couldn't. Now I'm paying for it. Are you happy?"

He recoiled where he sat on the floor, his spine straightening. "Of course I'm not," he said. He pushed himself onto his feet. "How dare you say that to me?"

"What, was I not contrite enough? Do I have to have to get down on my knees and beg your forgiveness for trying to save your life?"

Zuko turned away from her before he did something stupid, like grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking some sense into her. "No," he said. He took a deep breath and let it out, ignoring the way the room's candles had flared brightly as he did so. "I'm doing nothing to help you heal. I should go."

His feet moved. "This is just like that time with the weasel-snake," Katara said. "You were just as angry then."

He almost had forgotten. "That was years ago," he said, not turning around. They were in the Foggy Swamp, headed to the Fire Nation, and Katara was trying to bend the water in the vines around them, thinking to swing more efficiently from branch to branch. After a few successful tries, she had mistaken a weasel-snake for a vine, and it bit her. The venom's effects, his uncle had said, could only be remedied by a rare medicine.

"And you still haven't changed," she said. "You're still angry with me for something that isn't my fault."

He turned. "We were trying to take down Ozai, and you were playing with vines! And now we have a town to save, and you think you can hold lightning in a snowball!"

The bucket containing Katara's hand frosted over. "I see," she said. "I'm sorry. I thought you asked for my help this time as a trusted friend. But really it's about how _useful_ I am."

"Don't you dare," he said. "If I thought that way -- _Azula's way_ -- I would have left you behind back then, instead of-" His brain caught up with his mouth, and he shut up. "Never mind. I'm leaving."

"Instead of what?" Katara asked.

"It doesn't matter," he said. "Your mind is made up. It always has been."

Again, her voice stopped him. It sounded much smaller, now. "I thought we were friends, Zuko. That's all."

His hand met the door. "And you said we were family," he said. "With the things you've said, you'd fit right in with mine."

He left the room. He was halfway down the hall when he heard the bucket hit the door.

≅

He waited as long as he could before needing sleep. Katara had not left his room, so he had let himself into hers. If anything it was more comfortable, filled with fresh flowers and soft furs. He fell asleep on the white fur coverlet, but only after what felt like hours of self-interrogation. Mentally, he kicked himself for allowing Iroh to entrap him here. The old man was probably laughing, thinking that with enough time spent in Katara's presence, Zuko's old feelings for her would surface and make themselves known. Zuko was sure that Iroh found all of it very amusing upon imagining it. After all, how was the old man to know that he would not only let Katara hurt herself, but thoroughly alienate her afterward?

_And last night, you were thinking of marrying her._ Grimacing, he tried to sleep.

He woke later as dawn filtered into the room. A scratching sound on the floor had him fully awake in seconds, and he sat up. Katara stood there, her hand on her bag. "I just came for my clothes," she whispered.

Zuko made a little ball of fire in his palm. "How is your hand?"

She held it out, and he gestured for her to come closer. When she did, he carefully took hold of the hand at the wrist. Soft, unblemished skin met his gaze. He thumbed it carefully, and she did not wince. "Miraculous," he said.

"I'm good at what I do."

"I was afraid it would scar," he said, realizing upon uttering the words that they were completely true.

Her hand moved and touched his mangled ear lightly. "Scars aren't so bad."

This, he knew, was their way of apologizing to one another. He did his best not to read anything else into her tone, or her touch. "Would you like your room back?"

"I kind of like the fluffy pillows."

He nodded, and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "The cook should be up. What would you like for breakfast? I'll have it sent up."

"Oh, no, you don't have to do that."

_For goodness' sake, let yourself be taken care of once in a while._ "I know I don't. I want to." He stood and reached for the shirt he'd left hanging from a chair. "Now what is it you want?"

Katara licked her lips as he stood tying the closure. Her staring made his hands slip, and he had to re-do the knot twice. "Um…"

"A mango, you say? Good choice." He made for the door.

"Wait!" Katara crashed into him from behind. He turned, and she smoothed down her dress. "I think I'd like to sleep a little longer," she said. She looked at the floor. "It's such a luxury being allowed to sleep in, and I think I could use the rest."

Zuko shrugged. "If that's what you'd like."

"I…" Something unsaid trembled on the tip of Katara's tongue. She sighed and her body seemed to deflate, her shoulders falling. "I guess firebenders still rise with the sun, huh?"

"Yes." He frowned. "Your mind is hopping around like a rabbaroo in spring. Go back to sleep."

And before she could argue, he made for the kitchen. At least there, he knew how to give an order.


	4. Chapter 3

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to heal the victims of an epidemic spreading throughout the Fire Nation. [Katara/Zuko**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon, not me. No profit is made by this story.**

**Rating: T for Teen**

Zuko did not see Katara until evening. They had almost reached the port nearest Tetsushi. Soon, it would be time to disembark. After a day spent practicing his bending, he found Katara in her berth reading the reports each of the Tetsushi doctors had sent to the capitol. She had spread the letters chronologically across one table, and on her coverlet were several scrolls featuring detailed representations of the human anatomy. Some even depicted the human interior, all the organs and muscles and fluids within.

"That's disgusting," Zuko said, nodding at the scrolls.

"Disgusting or not, it's what we all look like inside," Katara said. "You're no different, Fire Lord."

He raised an eyebrow at one scroll. It depicted a woman with a baby inside. "I beg to differ."

Katara rolled her eyes. She stood, stretched, and pointed at the letters from Tetsushi. "I'm getting to know my enemy."

"And? Have you formulated a plan of attack?"

She nodded. "I think so." She strode over his uncle's desk, and pointed at a large scroll she'd left unrolled. "This is the region surrounding Tetsushi," she said, her index finger making a loose circle about the small mountain town. "It's an old map. Can you tell me if Tetsushi has indoor plumbing, yet?"

Zuko shrugged. "In the residential areas? I doubt it. It's still fairly rural."

Katara nodded. "I suspected as much. Do you see this river?" She pointed. "It's probably the communal water supply. Whatever is making these people sick is in that river."

Zuko frowned. "How can you be so sure?"

Katara pointed. "The most recent reports come from downriver. If the illness had spread outward, it would mean it jumped from person to person like a child's cough. But instead, the illness has moved steadily south with the river. It starts in Tetsushi."

A cold feeling settled over Zuko's shoulders. "Are you suggesting that someone has poisoned the water supply?"

Slowly, Katara nodded. "As I see it, there are two possibilities. The first is that someone in the town brought a sickness with him, and that he's somehow tainted the water with it. Tetsushi isn't that far from a port -- maybe he came from elsewhere and brought a foreign illness, like a parasite, and transmitted it to his neighbors through the water."

"A parasite?"

Katara bent down and pulled a scroll from one of his uncle's many nooks. Unrolling it over the map, she pointed at a particularly nasty-looking creature. "Sickle-worm," she said. "It lives inside a person's intestine, and it-"

"Enough," Zuko said, holding up a hand. "I understand."

"I thought you might." She left the scroll unfurled, and crossed her arms. "The other possibility is that someone has purposefully poisoned the river near Tetsushi. I'm not sure why they would do such a thing, though. Unless…" She shifted weight to one foot. "Is it true that the town was run by a war profiteer?"

"How did you learn that?"

"I took a look at some census records. Things have gone downhill for Tetsushi ever since you ended the war."

Zuko made his way to the nearest window. He stared outside for a moment before answering. After yesterday's storm, the water looked glassy and serene, and he had a sudden and powerful yearning to stay there. Getting off his ship had only ever caused him problems. "The reception you received in Kaino-tama had to do with the population as much as your popularity," he said. "Urban dwellers were the first to see the futility of Sozin's war. It's hard to start civic improvement projects when the dragon's share of the taxes feed a war machine. It's why our roads are cracked in so many places -- we've had no money to repair them."

He turned, and clasped his hands behind his back. "In the outlying areas, it's different. Those people were convinced of the glory of the Fire Nation, and had hopes for empire. Those hopes made them feel more important, because their hard labor contributed to something much greater -- or so they thought." He cleared his throat. "Now the people of Tetsushi and places like it are living in poverty because I curtailed those hopes. More importantly, their sons are dead and gone, because the least educated in the nation served as infantrymen while the sons of Kaino-tama became my father's bureaucrats."

A tight smile crossed his face. "If I were a citizen of Tetsushi, I might be angry enough to risk poisoning my own neighbors, if I thought it would help me practice for something on a larger scale -- the capital reservoir, perhaps. And if it drew the attention of General Iroh, or the Fire Lord's favorite waterbender, so much the better." He laughed mirthlessly, and shook his head. "What new danger have I put you in now, Katara?"

Katara rolled her eyes and waved one hand dismissively. "Zuko. Snap out of it. Come on." She crossed the room to face him. "It's very realistic of you to suggest a plot from within your own country, but the world really doesn't revolve around you."

Zuko's jaw fell open. "Excuse me?" _I try explaining the tensions in the Fire Nation as best I can, and you accuse me of being self-centered?_

Katara took a deep breath. "I probably said that wrong. I'm sorry. What I mean is, the town of Tetsushi once helped make steel that went into weapons manufacture. Those weapons killed people all over the world. Correct?"

He winced. "Yes."

"So isn't it possible that someone has a grudge against the town?" When he frowned, she stepped even closer. Her eyes had taken on the eager, hungry look of a pygmy panther in the presence of a bird. It meant she had an idea, and she knew exactly how to follow it up. "What did you do with Li and Lo?" she asked.

"I had them imprisoned in iron cell, where their lightning would scorch them from the inside out," Zuko said.

"And why did you do that?"

"They trained Azula. Azula hurt my uncle."

"Exactly," Katara said. "Now if your sister had used a sword, wouldn't you want to find the one who forged it?"

Instantly, he understood. "Yes." _I'd gut him like a fish with one of his own weapons._ A stray thought occurred to him. He looked down into Katara's satisfied face and asked a question whose answer he feared: "Was that how you thought of me?"

Katara paused. She looked almost hurt in her surprise, as though she had mistakenly stepped into broken glass. _There you go again,_ Mai's voice said within his mind, _always whining. Can't you just shut up?_ Katara's mouth worked. He could almost see the gears of her mind turning. They had not shared a living space in years, and yet he still recognized the look on her face as she decided how to put something gently. And what stung worse than the fact that her desire for vengeance had run deep -- he had expected that -- was that he still knew her face so well, could still read it because he had memorized it ages ago. He had expected time to dull that awful sense of expectation when he watched her face, but it remained just as fresh and raw as he remembered.

"It's all right," he heard himself say. "You don't have to answer. I understand. I was the face of the enemy. You said it yourself."

Frantically, Katara shook her head. "That was then. This is now. I can't even remember what wanting to hurt you felt like." Her voice rose. "And I wouldn't ever… I'd never go to those lengths, I'd-"

"Katara." He had the oddest urge to hold her face in his hands, but he refrained. "We both know that if you thought I was going to hurt Aang, you would have put an ice arrow straight through my heart." His head tilted. "The fact that Ozai's troops eliminated your mother, father, and most of your village would only have made it easier."

"That wasn't you! And it was years ago! I'm grown up, now, and I've learned…" She faltered. "I've learned how to live without them," she said, straightening. "Your parents are gone, too. And why are we even discussing this?" She turned away. "Just because I can understand someone's motives for vengeance doesn't mean I'm a vengeful person."

Zuko had to restrain a chuckle. "We're both vengeful people, and you know it." He peered around her. "It doesn't mean I think any less of you."

She turned, and she looked very small suddenly. "I'm not vengeful, I'm passive-aggressive," she said.

"Remind me to have that inscribed on my throne."

She laughed through her nose, bending double. Her giggles streamed out around her fingers, which she held close to her mouth. Straightening, she wiped tears from the corners of each eye and sat heavily on the bed. "I think I've been going a little crazy up there in the mountains," she said.

"You don't say."

Again, she laughed. The sound left a warm feeling in his chest like good, smooth liquor. "I'm not allowed to get angry, up there. Displeased or disappointed, maybe, but not angry. I can't lose control in front of the children." She looked at the scrolls. "And Aang provided such a good example -- he was just so _good_ -- that I felt a little ashamed every time I raised my voice." She shrugged. "I guess that's why I've been so all over the place, here. It's like the waterbending. I've been trying to hold an ocean inside a rain-barrel."

She paused a moment. "Wow. I guess you were right. I _am_ starved for adult conversation. I should probably just be quiet, now." She looked down at her lap and laced her fingers tightly, pressing the single fist they made between her knees.

Reluctantly, Zuko sat beside her. The bed was too soft. He sank down and tried not to think of her smell there in the sheets, her body's warmth still there. "When Aang died, my uncle offered you a place with us, any time you liked. He said not to let the children run you ragged."

"I thought I could do it alone," she said in a tiny voice. "I mean, come on, I helped defeat Ozai. I faced down your sister. I protected the Avatar -- why shouldn't I be able to take care of less than a hundred kids? It's just food and clothes and teaching, right? We're not even at war, and I have a garrison and volunteers to help me." She hunched over a little, resting her elbows on her knees. "Aang was so much better at it than me."

"Aang was the Avatar. You are not."

"It was more than that," she said. "Aang was a child at heart. He understood how to share himself with the children. He knew how to make playtime a learning experience. I was always the disciplinarian." She smiled. "It's not easy always being the bad guy."

"Believe me, I know."

Her palm slapped her forehead. "I really should just shut up," she said, behind her hand. "We have a town to save, and here I am whining to you about how hard it is to run an orphanage. You have an entire country to look after."

"Katara, if I had to do your job I would have torched the temple by now."

She peered at him with one eye. "You would not."

His good eyebrow arched. "I believe you're familiar with my temper by now."

"You have much better control of it now that you did in the past," she said. "It shows."

He tried not to let the silent, triumphant riot her words incited distract him. "Why aren't Sokka and Suki helping you? What about Toph?"

Katara smiled. "Sokka and Suki have their own children to look after, and they have a difficult time as it is splitting their time between Kyoshi and the South Pole," she said. "But when I received your message, I asked them to come and watch over things for me. They're at the temple right now." She shrugged. "I suppose I could have let the volunteers and your garrison handle things. But I don't trust them like I do my brother. I don't have a personal relationship with any of them -- I'm still 'the Avatar's waterbender' to them."

Zuko nodded. That, at least, he understood. He found it a strain making friends at all -- establishing such a relationship with one of the people under his command struck him as impossible. It was as Katara had said -- friendship required equality. And he could not afford equality in large quantities. Her fingers brushing his brought him out of his musings, and he looked down at where she'd touched him. "There's something I have to tell you," she said.

His heart found his throat. "Yes?"

"I watched Aang die." She squeezed his hand and blinked away tears. "I just turned around for one second, and he fell. I couldn't do anything. The life just drifted out of his body like steam." Katara pursed her lips and seemed to firm her resolve, as though the next words would be difficult. "I've been thinking about it, and that's why I tried to capture lightning in a snowball, to use your words. I spent so long protecting Aang. Really, he was like my little brother before he was my husband. And in the end he wouldn't let me protect him."

Wondering if she felt the tremor in his hand, Zuko used it to cover hers. "But I'm not Aang," he said. "You don't have to look after me."

She nodded. "I know. You always do just fine by yourself. But I reacted. I couldn't help it. I wasn't trying to insult your bending abilities, I swear. I just…"

"You were just being yourself."

Katara hung her head. "Yes." She used one hand to wipe at her eyes. "Why can't I stop talking? Honestly, you must be so tired of it by now. You came to tell me something. What was it?"

"We'll be ashore, soon."

"Oh. Wow, I completely derailed that message, didn't I?"

"A little." He looked down at their hands. He liked the way they looked together, her palm warm and brown as an ostrich egg inside the nest of his longer, paler fingers. "There's nothing wrong with you," he said at last.

"I thought I was unbelievably reckless."

"You are." He took a deep breath. "But as I said before, you are also my favorite waterbender." He squeezed her hand to make his point.

She gave a tiny, shy smile. "I heard you say it the first time."

"Good."

"You're my favorite firebender."

Unable to restrain his smile, Zuko said: "Don't tell my uncle. He's a jealous man."

Katara rolled her eyes. "I'm sure that's why he wants me to marry you, and not him."

_That's twice in as many days she's mentioned marriage._ "My uncle's hints are as subtle as a firebomb, I know," Zuko said carefully, concentrating on the texture of her cuticle under his thumb. "I'm sorry if they make you uncomfortable."

Katara shrugged, and their hands loosened. "I think he does it to annoy you," she said. "You're the one who has avoided marriage. Even Toph has a live-in lover. Iroh probably just wants grandkids."

_If only it were that simple. _"Toph has a live-in lover? Who?"

"See, this is why you should answer my letters. Iroh has known about this for years."

_"Years?"_

"Yes, years. Toph just doesn't like to open up about those kinds of things to people who don't correspond with her. She met the person after Aang died."

Zuko's lip twitched. "I don't envy the man who has to put up with her attitude."

"Who says it's a man?"

His good eye widened. "What?"

"You heard me."

It was his turn to hang his head. "Is there anything else I don't know? Have you been hiding a pet dragon, perhaps?"

To his surprise, Katara didn't answer. His head came up. She had turned toward the window. Her face had re-acquired the broken, hollow expression Zuko remembered from the day after Aang's death, when she had fallen asleep watching the pyre. She had felt so right in his arms when he'd carried her to his bed, and he'd hated himself for noticing. "What is it?" he asked. _What have I said? How did I ruin things, this time?_

She turned to him. There were tears in her eyes, but she didn't wipe them away. "You know as much about me as I know about you," she said. "Actually, you probably know more."

He was about to ask her what she wanted to know, when a knock sounded at the door. "My Lord?"

Zuko stood, pulled his shirt straight, and opened the door. "Yes?"

"We're about to dock, my Lord."

"Very good." He was about to dismiss the man, but instead he said: "Inform the cook and the steward to buy potable water at port. We won't be using the water in Tetsushi unless we boil it first. Tell the captain."

Bewildered but obedient, the man nodded and took his leave. Zuko shut the door. When he turned, Katara was smiling. "That was smart of you."

"It wouldn't do for us to fall to the same ailment as the people of Tetsushi," he said. He gestured the scrolls spread all over the room. "Thank you for doing this."

"Research is only the first step," Katara said. "I may be entirely wrong about this. I only hope your trust in me isn't misplaced."

"It isn't," he said. "Pack what you want to take with you. We'll be leaving soon."

≅


	5. Chapter 4

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to heal the victims of an epidemic spreading throughout the Fire Nation. [Katara/Zuko**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon, not me. No profit is made by this story.**

**Rating: T for Teen**

It was fully dark before they reached Tetsushi by rhino. Katara did well, but when she slid off the komodo-rhino she winced and stretched her lower back. "Now I remember why I never liked those."

"They're better in the mountains than mongoose-dragons," Zuko said. He frowned. "Where is everyone?"

The tiny town of Tetsushi, its refinery tower looming in the distance and its blunt, toothy peaks shadowing the wood-and-paper homes, seemed more the setting of a ghost story than an actual community. Only a few homes had any light. An acrid stench rose in the air, and a fine coating of ash seemed to rest on every surface. Zuko lifted his foot and saw the pattern his boot made in the powdery gray substance. "They're burning the bodies close by," he said. He turned to his men. "Fan out," he said. "Find out why no one has come to meet us."

A few left while the others formed a loose, defensive perimeter around Katara and Zuko. For a moment, he wondered if this was the trap. Were there archers in the dark forests surrounding them? Katara stepped forward. She squinted at the empty verandas and lonely lanterns. "I'm not sure there's a town to save here, Zuko," she said. She put her hands to her hips. "But I _am_ sure it's the water."

He leaned closer to her. "How can you be sure?"

She pointed to a darkened house. "Do you see that man there?"

Squinting, Zuko did in fact see someone. The man had slumped across his front porch, one arm pillowing his head and the other hand curled around an earthenware jug. "You mean the drunkard?"

"Exactly," Katara said. "He's obviously not drinking the water, and look -- he's fine."

"Except for the debauchery, you mean," Zuko said. "You there! Wake up!"

"Oh, let him sleep it off."

One of the guards turned. "Shall I wake him, my Lord?"

Zuko had no chance to answer. A young woman carrying an infant in a sling came walking quickly to the open square where Zuko and Katara waited. She looked worn and thin. The skin on her skull seemed to have tightened, and large shadows hung under eyes. Upon seeing him, her eyes bugging when she took note of his scar -- his best identifying marker as Fire Lord -- she fell on her knees and let her forehead touch the ashy earth at their feet. "My Lord," she said from the ground. "We were not expecting you."

"You may rise," he said. As the young woman stabilized herself with one hand, Katara stepped forward and offered her a helpful arm. The other woman smiled gratefully until she noticed Katara's coloring and clothes. Her mouth fell open and she moved to bow again.

"No, no, there's no need for that," Katara said, holding her upright.

"You're the Avatar's widow," the young woman said in a hushed tone. "You're the Bloodbender."

Katara nodded, holding the woman's shoulders. "Yes, I am. And the Fire Lord and I are here to help you."

The woman stuck the first two knuckles of her right hand in her mouth, biting down on them. A moment later, her first sob escaped her and she collapsed against Katara. "Thank the spirits," she said. "I thought we were going to die, here. I thought no one cared."

"This Fire Lord isn't like the last one," Katara said. Her eyes met Zuko's as she stroked the other woman's hair. "He cares about his people. He would never let you die for no reason, if he could help it."

And hearing her say it took him back to that day in his father's war chamber, and to his mother's words that had inspired him to hold his ground. And he thought of how far he had come in the meantime, far enough to stand here as Fire Lord beside the world's most powerful waterbender with the war over and the Avatar been and gone. The magnitude of his responsibility struck him. Suddenly he felt very small. He took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. "Lady Katara is right," he said. "We have come to help."

Katara smiled at him over the woman's shoulder. "Let's get to work," she said.

≅

The woman's name was Su-Lin. She and her infant son Kurzu were in another village when the sickness took its largest bite from the populace. "The father was stranded here after the war," Su-Lin had explained. They now sat inside her humble home. Wooden children's toys were everywhere, and the house smelled of old, cured meat. Zuko had to restrain himself from tidying up. Su-Lin stared at the baby in her arms. "My mother wanted to meet her grandson…until she saw Kurzu's face."

"It's a darling face," Katara said. "Is your mother allergic to beauty?"

Su-Lin blushed and shook her head. "No," she said, "just to Water Tribe children."

"What?"

"It's hard to tell with things so dim like this -- I'm sorry there aren't more candles -- but Kurzu is darker than most Fire Nation children," Su-Lin said. "His father -- my husband -- was part of Hakoda's strike force."

"He was? Would I know him? Where is he?"

Su-Lin's face fell. "He's gone," she said. "We were just at his pyre."

"Oh. I'm so sorry." She mustered a brave smile. "I'm happy to see that some of the Southern Water Tribe has survived here in the Fire Nation, though. And such a beautiful example, too! Look at those eyelashes!" Her smile grew. "He's going to be a real heartbreaker."

Su-Lin looked at the floor. "You flatter me, my Lady." Her hand strayed to a betrothal necklace at her throat. Zuko thought it looked odd to see one carved from something as simple as bone. Then again, the Water Tribesman was probably a little lost in the Fire Nation. "If my husband could see me now, discussing our son with the Bloodbender and the Fire Lord… He was so proud of your contribution to the war, my Lady."

"I did my best."

Su-Lin turned to Zuko. "Not that he didn't also appreciate your efforts, my Lord!"

"That's quite all right, Su-Lin," he said. "Can you tell us where the refinery overseer is?"

"He doesn't live in town, my Lord. He lives down at the port."

Zuko nodded. "And the foreman?"

"Gone, my Lord. I heard his two little girls died, and he went into the forest."

Zuko ran a hand over his face. "Are there any elders left? What about the doctors? Where are the sick being treated?"

Su-Lin blinked. "The doctors are all dead, my Lord," she said. "They were old. The elderly and the children died first." She held her son a little closer. "My husband said it would be a good time for Kurzu and me to leave, with all the children so sick," she said. "My mother wanted to see us, after all… I had no idea he was even sick when he sent us away…" Her voice started to crumble, and she buried her face in her child's blanket. "I'm sure he was just protecting me. I'm sure he knew he was sick, but he didn't want me to see…"

Katara wrapped one arm around her, and Su-Lin slumped against the waterbender gratefully. The baby began to fuss, and Katara rescued it from Su-Lin's tired arms. "You go lie down, Su-Lin," she said. "I'll look after Kurzu. I think I can get him down."

Looking embarrassed, Su-Lin nodded, and crept to one corner of the room where a futon lay unrolled. Katara stood and walked out of the tiny house to stand in the night outside. Zuko followed. Guards stood a pace away, their torches the brightest light in town. And beyond, standing in a silent ring, were the last remaining citizens of Tetsushi who could stand and greet the Fire Lord and the Bloodbender. They looked defeated. Their eyes were sunken and they clutched bellies that must have roiled with nausea. With painful slowness, they bowed or knelt. Zuko risked a quick glance at Katara and the child she bounced on her hip. Katara gave him the slightest nod. Taking a deep breath, Zuko raised his arms.

"Rise, people of Tetsushi," he said. "We have been a long time in coming, but Lady Katara of the Southern Water Tribe and I are here to help you."

"My Lord," he heard some of them whisper. "My Lady." They stood and their eyes found Katara. She hoisted Kurzu in her arms. She stepped forward.

"I am not sure what the Fire Lord's men have told you," she said clearly. "But I advise that you all begin boiling water before drinking it, cooking with it, or bathing in it. That means no more bathing in the river. I suspect that the river's water is poisoned somehow. Until we know more, please boil the water."

The citizens whispered to one another. Gradually, an older man was pushed to the front of the group. He bowed. "Begging your pardon, my Lady," he said, "but we're on our last legs. We just can't carry that much water to and fro."

Katara smiled. "Of course not," she said. "That's what the Fire Lord's men are for."

The assembled guards stiffened down to the last man. Katara may have been the Avatar's widow, but they took orders from one person: the Fire Lord. Silently fuming, Zuko cleared his throat and said: "Lady Katara is absolutely right. We have come to help, and that includes…" _menial labor, servile work, chores _"…the work this illness has robbed you of the ability to do."

He thought he heard a snort from the men, but made no mention of it. Instead, he concentrated on the beaming faces in the crowd. Nodding, Katara continued: "Does this town have a fire temple?"

"A very small one, my Lady," the older man said. "No sages have lived there in quite some time. It's a bit…" His eyes shifted nervously to Zuko, and Zuko saw him make the decision to be truthful. "Decrepit," he said.

"That's fine," Katara said. "Starting tomorrow, I will begin seeing patients there."

A sigh of relief rippled through the crowd. Zuko saw their eyes take on a hopeful glint. For the first time, he understood the immense pressure Katara had put herself under: if she couldn't help these people, it meant her reputation as the Bloodbender would be tarnished. It was worse than disappointing them -- they would die. Wondering how it had ever come to this -- and suspecting that much of it had to do with his delay, a delay caused by his selfish desire for Katara's help -- he dismissed them. They walked straighter as they left, casting glances backward. When the last one had disappeared, Zuko re-entered the house. His mouth opened to speak, but Katara held one finger up.

"Kurzu's asleep, again," she said under her breath. "Can you watch him? I have to go."

_Me? Watch him? Are you insane? _"Go where?"

"The fire temple," she said. "I have to clean it up."

"I thought your new domestic servants were good for that job. When they're not busy guarding the Fire Lord, that is."

Her eyebrows rose. "You're not begrudging your own people some assistance in their hour of need, are you?"

He put his hands up, placating. "Far from it."

"That's what I thought." She laid the baby beside Su-Lin. "Just keep your eye on him. I have to bring a few things to the temple."

Zuko stepped back. "You watch him."

"Why? Because I'm a woman?"

"Because I'll fail miserably," Zuko said. "He'll wake up. She'll wake up." _Disaster will ensue._

Her eyebrow arched. "I'm sure I don't have to lecture the Blue Spirit on the use of stealth," she said. "And if the Avatar himself changed diapers by the basketful, then you can watch a baby for two minutes."

The idea of Aang elbow-deep in shit was both hilarious and mortifying, a fact Zuko attributed to the late hour. And while he stood there poleaxed by the mental image, Katara left the house. Zuko stared at Kuzu's bald head and thought of Aang. _Wherever you are, Avatar, I have a feeling you're laughing at me._

≅


	6. Chapter 5

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to heal the victims of an epidemic spreading throughout the Fire Nation. [Katara/Zuko**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon, not me. No profit is made by this story.**

**Rating: T for Teen**

By the time Katara returned, the remaining guardsmen had set up a tent for them in the center of town. She stood unsteadily and gripped Zuko's arm as he guided her there. He pushed her to one side of the tent's interior wall and heard her collapse onto a pallet a moment later. It occurred to him that they had not shared space like this in years. Just the thought of it made him feel younger.

In the morning, his eyes opened with a stinging, sticky feeling. He rolled over to find that Katara's hand had escaped under the curtain separating them. When he pulled it aside briefly, it revealed her body at odd angles: limbs all askew, neck twisted in a way that was bound to cause discomfort later on. Just looking at her made him realize how profoundly he needed some meditation, so he folded his legs and sat for a moment. He wouldn't have a moment's peace when he left the tent. Inside there was only the sound of his and Katara's breathing. He slowed his to match hers. Ordinarily he liked candles for this, but in the wilderness one worked with the surrounding terrain. He formed a small ball of flame in each palm and imagined his breath feeding them. Without looking, he sensed them growing, then shrinking, to his rhythm. Concentrating, he moved through various shapes: flowers, blades, people. If he really stretched, he could form a six-legged flying bison. He had just put the finishing touches on one and begun allowing it to coast through the air when the breathing behind the curtain stopped.

He opened his eyes. "Don't worry," he said. "I won't set anything on fire."

Katara pulled the curtain aside. Her hair had mostly fallen out of her bun and now fell unevenly down her shoulders. She blinked. "Appa."

"No, Zuko," he said. "Although if you'd rather share the tent with a ten-ton bison…"

"I thought you hated Appa," she said. "Every time you flew with us, you looked so angry."

"I hate flying," Zuko said, sending the fire-Appa into tight upward spirals. "But Appa was a noble creature. If I hadn't thought so, I wouldn't have freed him from Lake Laogai."

Katara rolled to her back and looked up at the small, glowing animal. Zuko made it dive gently before floating back up. "When it was just me and Sokka and Aang," she said, "we went to a Fire Days festival."

"Stealth was never your strong suit," Zuko said, the fire-Appa executed a tight turn.

"We saw this…I don't know what he was. A magician, I guess. He tied me to a chair-" the flaming bison flared ever so briefly "-and he made this big dragon of fire. It was huge. And he flew it straight at me."

The bison grew and its flames wavered. "An ornamental firebender," Zuko said, smoothing the shape.

"It really scared Aang," Katara said. "He leapt right up onstage and dissolved it. He gave away our identity and everything, just because he thought I might be hurt."

"He loved you."

She nodded. They remained quiet for a moment. Zuko had no idea if he'd said the wrong thing. Perhaps mentioning Aang's affection for his widow was impolite. "I didn't know you could make smaller shapes like this," she said finally. "I've seen you make the blades before, but I didn't know..."

"These are frivolous," he said, flattening the fire-Appa into an elephant koi. He made it leap and dip through the air, then split into three separate koi.

"Make Tui and La," she said.

"Who?"

"The fish from the Spirit Oasis," she said. She turned. "You _do_ remember the Spirit Oasis?"

"How could I forget?" Once again, he merged the flames only to split them again, and soon there were two koi fish swimming in delicate circles about one another.

"That's beautiful," she said.

He smiled. "I can do better." Bringing the full weight of his concentration down on one fish, he heated it until it achieved a painfully-bright, white-hot temperature. It flared blue for just a moment before resuming its normal golden hue.

"That's amazing," Katara said. "You're so precise."

"I can narrow the focus of chi in one hand," Zuko said. "It's not very practical, but it trains concentration."

"I wish I had the chance to do things like that more often."

"You can heal wounds, Katara. That's a much greater gift than making pretty things."

"Oh be quiet and let me compliment you," she said. His fire died. She sat up and crossed her arms, throwing her hair over one shoulder. If she hadn't looked so disheveled, it might have been intimidating. "I keep trying to be nice to you, and you just won't have it, will you? I _know_ how special my gifts are. I know that they're useful. I don't need to be told how much better they are than yours. This isn't a competition. I'm not Azula."

He frowned. "I never said you were."

"But you keep on talking about how 'frivolous' your creations are, about how you're destined to fail at something as simple as watching a baby for two minutes. Just because we're good at different things doesn't make me better than you, Zuko. It just means that we're different people."

"I know we're different."

"So why are you judging yourself to my standard? Why are you judging yourself at all?"

"Excuse me for questioning myself, Katara, but the Fire Lords before me ruined this country and I don't intend on repeating their mistakes. If I have to keep myself in check to do it, so be it."

"But that's just it -- you're already Fire Lord! You defeated Ozai! Azula's dead! When is it ever going to be enough?"

"_Never_," Zuko said. "Everything I do -- everything I've done -- has been to atone for the mistakes that Ozai and my forefathers made. I will never, ever be finished repairing the damage they did."

"But it wasn't your fault," Katara said. She reached across and covered one of his hands with hers. "You weren't there." Her head tilted. "The past is the past. Can't you just let it go?"

His scar felt tough and heavy. "That's easy for you to say," he said. "When this is over, you'll go home and tend your children, safe from everything while _my_ men and _my_ money protect you. And I'll still be stuck here, trying to keep this nation together when it can't even feed itself." His words came slow and hard. He enunciated each syllable perfectly, and for a moment he sounded so much like Ozai to his own ears that he felt a little sick. But he kept talking: "I'm sorry if that's not _enlightened_ enough for the Avatar's widow, but I think you and Aang would agree that I'm still blinded by worldly concerns like _food_ and _money_ and _illness_."

Zuko stood before she decided to slap him. He pulled on a shirt and began buttoning it as he faced away from her. His hands shook a little. "How dare you?" she asked in a whisper, but he didn't answer. Instead he just left the tent, refusing the offer of tea that awaited him and heading for a place by the river where he could practice his bending.

≅

He did not see Katara until midday, when his temper was cool enough to watch her tending patients. The lineup was fairly short, but Katara looked ragged. The temple where she worked was tiny and decrepit, with rotting beams and chipped paint. She asked the sick to sit or stand in a small hexagon of patchy mosaic tile while she tried bloodbending. Su Lin was there to help, but in the light of day she looked even more wretched: thin and pale with a veil of sweat coating her brow. Even her baby seemed oddly quiet.

"I see you decided to join us," Katara said when she caught sight of him.

"Just checking on my investment," he said, and watched her mouth turn down even further. The shaky ribbon of water she held aloft fell and splashed on the tiles below.

"Your _investment_ would like to have a word with you, Fire Lord Zuko."

Without waiting for him to agree, she marched off in the other direction. Zuko dismissed his retinue and followed. In a copse of trees not far off, she said: "There's something wrong."

"I know that. People are dying."

"More than that, Zuko. I can't bend."

_I just saw you bending._ "I just saw you bending."

"Bending _badly_, Zuko. I was bending _badly._"

"Maybe you should be wiser and get a full night's sleep before you try advanced bloodbending techniques," Zuko said. "Your skills are too important for you to abuse them. I told these people I would bring them the best, and I intend to deliver."

"Oh, shut up," Katara said. "I'm not one of your subjects, so you can just dispense with the rhetoric. Watch me bend."

Rolling his eyes, Zuko stepped back and folded his arms. Katara set two waterskins on the ground and uncorked them. She raised one serpent of water, made it spiral through the air, and returned it to the skin. "I fail to see why this is a good waste of my time," he said.

"Is it impossible for you to be patient?" she asked under her breath. She moved to bend the water in the second skin. It rose, but only in a thick, malformed lump. It trembled for a moment before splashing apart. Their eyes met. "It's too heavy," she said.

His mouth worked before he could speak. "_Heavy_?"

She pointed at the second skin. "That's water from the river," she said. "And it feels _heavy._"

"Has it been boiled?"

"Yes." She pointed at the first skin. "That water is from the port. I re-stocked my personal bending supply before we left. And it feels fine. I can use it without a problem…for the most part."

He didn't like the sound of that. "What do you mean?"

She sighed. "Every time I use that water on someone here, the water comes back heavier."

He gave her what he hoped was a very skeptical look. "No, I'm serious," she said. "It took me a couple of hours to notice. But I've been seeing patients all day, and it's hard not to notice a pattern when it's staring you in the face."

"So these people are…heavy?"

She nodded. "Yes. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. And if they're like this water," she pointed at the second skin "that means that their blood is heavy, too."

The hairs along his neck prickled. "And what does that mean?" he asked, fearing he knew the answer.

"It means I can't bend their blood," Katara said. "I can't help them, Zuko."

≅

Zuko did what he did best: he ran.

Not literally, but he told Katara in his calmest, coldest tone that she was wrong. She _could_ help these people. He had seen her work miracles. As far as Zuko was concerned, Katara was simply tired. She had over-exerted herself on the trip -- trying to capture lightning and injuring herself in the process, only to expend energy healing herself too quickly -- and she was just not in top form yet. He refused to hear any arguments to the contrary, and stalked away.

"We need to evacuate this town, Zuko!" she had called after his retreating form. He said nothing.

Hours later, he had followed the river toward the refinery. It smelled of slag and coal. The fires had long died out. His men cautioned him against going any further -- "the illness brings madness, my Lord, and who knows what characters may be lurking in these woods" -- but he still found himself in the shadow of great iron chimneys. A fine layer of coal dust coated the dry earth for a three-meter radius surrounding the refinery. It colored the trees and the stones. Just being there made Zuko want to bathe.

He hesitated to enter the refinery itself -- it smelled awful up close, like blood somehow -- but even standing outside, he had a sense of its workings. Different chimneys corresponded to different fires of varying heat. Firebenders from Tetsushi could control the burn to achieve one quality of iron smelting or another. They could manufacture high-grade steel for swords or soft, pliant stuff to be bent into nuts and bolts. All it required was enough coal, ore, heat and-

One of his retinue cursed loudly. Turning, Zuko saw the others running toward him. He clutched one hand. Zuko jogged up to him and saw what the others did: the hand had swelled purple, and two dots of blood had appeared. "That's a weasel-snake bite," he said.

"This land is cursed," he heard someone mutter. He was one of the oldest of the company -- someone who had served under Iroh at Ba Sing Se and who Iroh trusted at Zuko's side. "The old Fire Lord's spirit is punishing us all."

"You're as superstitious as my uncle, and not half the man he is for thinking such things," Zuko said. He raised his voice. "We get this man to Tetsushi now!"

≅

The run back to Tetsushi proper took little time at all. Zuko was grateful. The officer -- a slim twig of a boy named Jiru -- had already begun twitching and hallucinating. When they laid him on the floor of the temple, Katara had to sit on him: "I can't bend the venom out if he doesn't quit moving!"

Zuko turned to his fastest runner. "On the boat, there's a supply of weasel-snake antidote. It's in a locked cabinet in Lady Katara's -- my uncle's -- quarters. Pull aside the tapestry of the moon-peach blossoms and you'll find it." He fumbled in his pocket. "This is the key. The bottle you are looking for is small with a pink liquid inside. Do _not_ open it. Hurry. Take a rhino."

The runner's eyes widened. "My Lord, for you to place such trust in me-"

"_Move!_"

He was off. Zuko noticed Katara staring up at him from the floor. "Keep bending," he said. "I only asked for the antidote in case you cannot remedy him."

"If you want me to heal him, then help me hold him down."

Zuko knelt and pinned Jiru's arms. Scowling, Katara made a pincer-like motion and slowly began drawing the venom out. It emerged from Jiru's arm in a bloody tendril like a climbing vine. She dropped the venom twice when Jiru jerked away. But on her third try, she finished and said: "That's all I can get. The antidote will have to do the rest."

"The colors," Jiru said, his eyes searching her face. "There are so many…"

"That's the venom," Katara said. "I remember…" She gave Jiru a light pat on the cheek. "Jiru, you're going to be all right."

"I can't breathe," Jiru said.

Katara moved off him, but Zuko held his arms fast. Jiru gasped for air. "His tongue is swelling," Katara said. "Hold his head back."

"It wasn't this fast for you," Zuko said. "You fought for hours."

"He's not a healing bender," Katara said. "My body can heal itself if I'm in the water."

Su-Lin stepped forward. "There is an old folk remedy for weasel-snake bites," she said. "It takes some time-"

"It takes _days_," Zuko said. "It takes eight different ingredients, three days' fermentation, and pure water, which we don't have."

Su-Lin backed away. "My apologies, my Lord."

Katara's gaze swung from the woman to Zuko. Her eyes narrowed. "Don't worry, Su-Lin, it was a great idea," Katara said through her teeth. "But the Fire Lord's man will be here any minute now."

Zuko forced himself to look at Su-Lin. "Lady Katara is right, Su-Lin. It was a good idea."

She brightened somewhat. "I just wanted to help, my Lord."

"You're a good citizen," he said, and wondered where that came from.

Half an hour later, the runner arrived with the antidote. Katara began to read the directions, but Zuko plucked the bottle from her hands and administered the necessary dose before she could protest. After that, Jiru calmed. But Katara did not look pleased, and she tended the rest of her patients until nightfall without saying another word to Zuko.


	7. Chapter 6

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to heal the victims of an epidemic spreading throughout the Fire Nation. Katara/Zuko**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon, not me. No profit is made by this story.**

**Rating: T for Teen**

When Zuko saw Katara again, he was already in bed reading maps. It would take real effort to relocate so many sick people. He had no idea where they would settle. Should he organize placement for them in other towns, or leave it up to them to decide where to go? He had no desire to shuffle their lives like a stack of _pai sho_ tiles, but he didn't want to abandon them, either. _Whatever you do, someone in the capital will find fault with it. You can't win. Stop agonizing and save these people._

"We need to talk," Katara said.

"Agreed," he said, letting the scroll in his hands fall slightly. He sat up. "I think we should-"

"Correction," Katara said, holding up a hand. "_I _need to talk, and _you_ need to listen."

Rolling his eyes, Zuko spun the scroll shut and folded his arms. With his good eyebrow, he told her to continue. Katara retrieved the bottle of weasel-snake antidote from her sling bag. She held it up. "How did you know about this?"

"It's a standard-issue Fire Nation first-aid item," Zuko said. "Until someone invents a healing firebending that's good for something other than muscle aches, we have to take medicine like normal people."

Katara shook her head. "That's not what I mean. How did you know what the proper dose was?"

The hairs prickled on Zuko's neck. "It may surprise you to learn that I'm trained in first-aid."

Again, she shook her head. "You knew how to brew the antidote. You told Su-Lin how many ingredients were required and how much time it would take. How did you know those things?"

The prickles turned to goose-bumps. "I watched my uncle brew the antidote for you when you were bitten by a weasel-snake in the Foggy Swamp. He worked very hard on it."

She closed her eyes and drew a shaky breath. "Stop lying to me."

He felt cold and resisted the urge to pull his blanket tighter. He suddenly felt very vulnerable lying down this way. _She knows. She knows everything. She's going to leave this place, and never speak to you again._ "What do you want me to say?"

Katara's eyes snapped open. They seemed unnaturally bright in the candle-lit dimness. "I want you to tell me the truth!" She shook the bottle. "You said I fought the venom for _hours._ But you told Su-Lin that the antidote takes _days_ to prepare."

He cleared his throat. "I exaggerated."

"No you didn't. I asked Su-Lin and some of the others. You knew _exactly_ how to make the antidote. They told me there was no way Iroh could have brewed it so quickly after I was bitten." She was pacing the tiny space that was Zuko's side of the tent. "So how did I survive, Zuko? If Iroh didn't brew the antidote, how did I make it?"

"You're a very strong waterbender-"

"Don't even feed me that! I know how strong I am! But waterbending -- _especially_ healing bending -- requires concentration over time. Anything beyond instinctive bending is impossible when you're hallucinating." She knelt down and held the bottle up to his face. "What really happened?"

Zuko swallowed and forced himself to look her in the face. "You were bitten. I gathered the ingredients for the antidote. We gave you the antidote. You got better."

Katara shook her head. "That day in the swamp, we were hiding from a group of Fire Nation soldiers," she said. "They were good -- they probably trained in the tropics. But their supplies were light, because there was a base nearby in occupied territory." Her lips pursed. "It couldn't have been more than a few hours away."

Zuko bit the words out. "What are you suggesting, Katara?"

"I'm _suggesting_ that you lied to everyone about helping Iroh gather the ingredients, because he knew he couldn't make it in time. Instead, you resurrected the Blue Spirit, sneaked into the Fire Nation base, stole the antidote, and came back just in time to save me." She leaned forward. "What I want to know is why you lied about it."

Zuko looked at his hands. There were ink-smudges on his thumbs and forefingers. Katara covered one of his hands with one of her own. "Why, Zuko? Why did you lie?"

He looked up over her shoulder, avoided her gaze. "Some of us don't seek adulation."

She grabbed his chin with her hand. Her fingers were surprisingly strong, and her eyes hard. "Try again."

He didn't answer. Instead, he took her hand away from his chin and moved it to the scarred side of his face. He pressed her hand there and leaned into the touch until his lips just barely grazed her wrist. He could almost feel her pulse there and wondered if she saw his beating just under the skin of his temple or his neck. _Now you know. This is the last secret._

Her hand slid away, and he closed his eyes. "You never said…" She swallowed. "I never knew… Zuko, please look at me."

He looked. Tears had formed in her eyes. Her hands twisted in her lap. Guilt and shame gave him a quick stab to the stomach. "Why didn't you ever say anything?" she asked.

"How could I?" he asked, and hated how small his voice was. He cleared his throat. "I was your old enemy. I had betrayed my own uncle. My father's soldiers killed your mother and father. What was I supposed to say?"

"I don't know! Something, at least!"

He shook his head. "It wouldn't have made a difference, and you know it. Your brother would have slit my throat. And if he didn't, Aang might have been tempted." He folded his arms. "More importantly, we had a war to win. You'll excuse me for not being the most romantic pursuer while contemplating effective methods of killing my father and sister."

"You could have said something when the war was won!"

"Oh, yes, that would have gone over very well. 'Lady Katara, please ignore the opportunities you've worked so hard for, and join me in my impoverished ruin of a nation.' Why didn't I think to ask?"

She drew back and sat on her knees. "Hey. Wait. I was just talking about courting. You know…some panda lilies and a foot massage?" Her eyes widened. "You wanted to _marry_ me?"

Zuko drew on his most royal voice. It gave him some semblance of dignity. "Anything less would have been a waste of my time."

"But you didn't even…! You never…! How in the world could you have wanted that from me, without spending any time with me?"

He frowned. "Did you forget the period when we lived together?"

"I meant non-combat situations," she said. "You know, conversations that didn't involve one of us being tied to a tree."

_Like the one we're having right now?_ He sighed steam. "I don't have to justify myself to you," he said.

"Yes, you do! You chased Aang for years! You wanted nothing more than to find him and bring him back to your father. Now you tell me that you wanted to _marry_ me, but you wouldn't lift one finger to pursue me? You, Zuko, the man who _never gives up?_" She stood up and pulled aside the curtain. "You must not have really loved me, if you weren't willing to work for it."

He pushed the covers off and stood. "You want to know why I chased him but not you?"

"Yes."

"The Avatar I had evidence of."

Her brows knit. "What?"

"I saw him with my own eyes at the South Pole. I followed his bison, listened for stories of his deeds, and kept any shred of evidence I could find of his whereabouts. I had _clues._ I had a trail to follow." He looked at the ground. "You left me none."

Her hands met her hips. "So this is my fault?" She poked his chest with one finger. "Stop acting like I spurned you when you didn't even give me a chance to decide one way or the other!"

He batted her hand away. "You loved Aang!" He clenched shaking fists. "Why should I have pursued you when you were so clearly in love with someone else? Especially when he would do anything to make you happy? Should I have blundered into your relationship and made a fool of myself, instead?"

"Better that than keeping this big secret for years and years!" She ran her fingers through her hair. "I still don't understand why you couldn't just tell everyone that you stole the antidote, that day. Sokka would have started trusting you a lot sooner."

"Sokka is a very smart man, and he would have seen right through me."

"Sokka is dense as lead when it comes to matters of the heart, Zuko."

Zuko frowned. "What did you just say?"

"I said that Sokka is as dense as…" Her eyes widened. "Lead."

Suddenly it all made a horrifying kind of sense. The sickness. The "heavy" water. Why boiling that water didn't help, and why the first place to experience "Ozai's Vengeance" was a refinery town in the middle of nowhere.

"Dear sages, I've been so stupid," Zuko murmured. He reached down for his shirt and threw it on. He poked his head outside the tent. "Round up the villagers for evacuation! I want these people gone by tomorrow! Tell them they're not coming back!"

"Yes, my Lord," someone said, and Zuko re-entered the tent. He wrestled open his bags and hunted about for his twin blades.

"It's the refinery," Katara was saying. "It has to be." She gave him a despairing look. "Isn't there some sort of safety protocol? They can't just release toxins into the water, can they?"

Zuko buckled the sheaths into place. "Not anymore, they can't."

"It was right in front of us the whole time," Katara said, slipping on her shoes. "Why didn't we see it?"

_Constantly picking fights with one another might have had something to do with it._ "It doesn't matter. What matters is that I find the ones responsible and punish them." He knelt and did the laces on his boots.

"Oh, no you don't. I'm coming with you."

"Katara, I need you here to help evacuate these people. They'll listen to you."

"Hey. Whoever did this took away my bending. No one gets away with that." She patted the waterskin at her hip. "I'm not letting you go alone."

"I won't be alone. I'll have plenty of men with me."

"None of whom are healing waterbenders," she said. She folded her arms. "Iroh would never forgive me if I didn't do my best to protect you on this mission."

"And you think I'll ever forgive myself if something happens to you?"

She smiled. "You sound just like Aang," she said, "but you're still stuck with me." Before he could protest, she held up one finger. "And that means we can't just go riding up to that refinery expecting answers. There isn't anyone there, and the overseer lives at the port."

"It may be the overseer's fault, you realize. I sincerely doubt anyone in this village would knowingly poison their own water supply."

"If that's the case, he probably ran with his tail between his legs when he saw your ship arriving. We'll have to track him down."

"All the more reason to get moving," Zuko said. "We should get to the refinery."

"First, we ask the villagers if they know anything," Katara said. "What does either of us know about refineries? We don't even know what to look for."

He gave her a level stare. "You're at your most irksome when you're so intelligent."

"I know," she said. "It's one of my best qualities. Shall we?"

≅

**Note: Congratulations to the readers who predicted what the illness at Tetsushi was. You people really know your heavy metals! While researching this story, I went to the Center for Disease Control website and looked up symptoms of severe lead poisoning. I suggest everyone go have a look. Beyond the symptoms and the "heavy water" clue, the largest clue was the name of the village itself: Tetsushi. In Japanese, "Tetsu" is a word for steel or iron, and "shi" is both the number four and the word for death. **

**Thanks are also due to all the wonderful reviewers who have made it so much fun to write this story. I've received nice notes saying that this is an "original" story for the 'ship, and I couldn't be more pleased. I wanted to avoid both capture and arranged marriage in this story, and it looks like I've succeeded! Thanks so much, everyone. **


	8. Chapter 7

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Fandomme**

**T for Teen**

**Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to heal the victims of an epidemic sweeping the Fire Nation.**

**Notes: Thanks are due to those who have read, reviewed, and added this story to their Alerts and Favorites. Sorry to make you wait so long for this chapter. **

≅

Clutching his cup of tea and staring blindly at figures, Zuko could barely remember the events of the past few hours. They blurred together like dancers at a spring festival. He recalled sensations, not facts: the dried-blood smell of the refinery, the sickening horror, remorse, and rage as they discovered that yes, those were lead bars just sitting in the water, his barely-contained wrath when the villagers said that the new overseer -- Tizo was his name -- had said it would be good for profits to eliminate a few steps in the refining process, Katara's hands bunched in his clothes as they rode down the mountain toward the overseer's house, his fury mounting as the rhino crashed through brush and bracken and finally exploding when they burst through Tizo's door and found…nothing.

Just junk. Just dust and furnishings and a few odds and ends lying on their sides, doubtless hastily-discarded during Tizo's escape days ago -- that was all that remained of the treacherous Tizo. "Refinery overseer is a municipally-appointed position," Zuko had said, standing inside the empty, creaking house. "Great sages, _why_ didn't I come see him _sooner?_"

"You didn't know," Katara had said. "Neither of us did. We thought it was a normal illness, or a different kind of poisoning." She slapped her forehead. "Damn, but my theory was stupid."

Zuko didn't correct her. Instead he gathered what he could -- futons and old sheets and the odd brushwork portrait -- in the middle of the sitting room, and lit it. He watched and waited for the blaze to spread. It licked along the floorboards and climbed upward. When the house, the finest on its street, was a crumbling inferno he said to those assembled: "Tizo the overseer is a traitor to the Fire Nation. His practices at the refinery in Tetsushi poisoned every man, woman, and child in the village. His cheap lead, bought with the lives of innocent people, has tainted the water, the fish, and the land. Through his greed and his refusal to assure quality of product and life, he has exiled himself from this nation. If he returns to this port, he is worse than a foreigner, he is unwanted. If I discover that you have harbored him, the burning of your home will be the least of your worries. _There will be no place to hide._"

He had stepped away and the crowd had parted for him. He ignored the fear and reprimand in Katara's eyes. He was yelling orders to his men about finding Tizo, commissioning wanted posters, sending dragon-hawks with messages demanding that engineers be sent to Tetsushi to fix the refinery safely and properly. He was looking at the crowd of refugees from Tetsushi and opening chests full of precious emergency gold and ordering that food and water and blankets be bought, and he was commandeering the town square and describing a tent city for the ones who would be staying behind. He was rousting apothecaries who knew something about liver-cleansers from their beds -- or ordering that it be done, at least. It was being a leader and it felt good because it meant _doing something_ and he'd felt worse than useless this whole trip.

And now he sat alone in his cabin -- Katara's cabin -- holding tea and staring at grids of tiny numbers without truly comprehending them. Katara pushed through the door. Her face was puffy and red. She sagged against the door and twisted it shut. The wheel squeaked. They regarded each other in the candlelight and it came rushing back to him: her hand on his face, their almost-fight about when and why and for how long.

"Su-Lin's dead," she said, and suddenly his cringing confession felt very small and meaningless in the larger tide of death and despair that had swept one corner of his country.

He stood. "I'm sorry."

"She fell during the evacuation. She rolled down some rocks…" Katara blinked and tears slid down her face. "I wasn't there."

Mute, Zuko opened his palms and held them out. His fingers plucked the air -- an invitation, if she wanted it. He saw her make the decision. She pushed away from the door and crossed the room and slid her arms around him. _Why is it always death that brings us together? _He held her tight and pressed his cheek to her hair. It smelled of smoke. Her breath shuddered.

"The child?" he asked, and his voice came out rougher than he meant it to.

"In my cabin," Katara said, sniffing. "I'll take him to the temple with me when I return."

Her words settled in his gut heavily. He pulled away. "And that'll be soon, won't it?"

Her gaze fell. "I don't…"

He swallowed. "It's all right," he said. "You don't owe me anything. How I feel -- how I _felt_ -- doesn't suddenly lift your duties from your shoulders, you still have to-"

Her hand brushed his face, the fingers tracing the lumpy mass of his ear. He quieted and watched her. "Why can't you be different?" she asked in a hushed voice, staring at his mouth. "Why can't you be the boy who chased us?"

"I haven't been that boy in a long time." As before, he reached up and pressed her hand to his face. "Are you still the girl I tied to a tree?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure who I am, any longer." Her other hand worried the fabric of his shirt, twisting one frog clasp between two fingers. "I've been so confused, lately. I used to know the right thing to do all the time. I remember what that felt like." Her face pinched. "I never thought I'd say that life was easier during the war, but…"

"But you had an enemy to fight," Zuko said. "And you had your freedom."

"When did you get so smart?" She blinked. "I turned around, and you grew up."

"So did you." His other hand covered hers on his chest and held it to his heart.

"What's happening to us?"

He let his other hand drop and leaned their foreheads together. He felt a rush of gratitude when she didn't pull away. "We're moving on."

Katara smiled softly. "Is that what it's called?" She enlaced their fingers over his heart. "I think maybe we're still growing up."

"Is that why my stomach is full of sparrowkeets?"

She bit back laughter and then both of them were laughing quietly just to each other, their lips almost touching. "Maybe," she said. "But being a grown-up does have its advantages."

His heart squeezed. "Oh?"

"Mm-hmm."

He moved their tangled hands to his lips and kissed each of her knuckles carefully, reverently, watching her blue eyes darken. His hand shook inside hers. "Would you show me?"

≅

Many times, Zuko had imagined what this would be like. His approximations were always fleeting, disconnected, lacking in the narrative that actually unfolds between two people: this, to that, to those, beginning and middle and end. Rising action, falling action. His adolescent self had seen only what it wished for in the moment: Katara's hair curtained around him, her necklace catching the light as it moved in time to the rhythm they set. He had imagined what her lips and hands and skin and tongue would feel like. He had thought he heard her voice catching inside his good ear.

He had not pictured laughter or scent or the way she said_ I'm not as pretty as you remember, I'm older now,_ or the way he said _I'll be the judge of that, _ and _Leave the necklace, in my dreams you wore that necklace._ He had not known she would bite down into his shoulder or tell him exactly what to do (_no, slower, lighter, like that, please, like that_) or cling shivering to him, just as surprised by the intensity of her reaction as he was.

He had not imagined himself adopting a Toph-ism and saying _Thank you, Sweetness,_ between kisses or the hum of exhaustion in his limbs afterward or how tightly he molded to her when she rolled away from him.

"I should check on Kurzu," she said, on the edge of sleep.

"Bring him in here with us," he said, but he curled an arm around her and she didn't move.

≅

Zuko's eyes opened to dim blue light. Dawn birds cried outside the porthole. A giddy, spent, warm feeling suffused him. He turned -- he must have shifted in the night -- and looked at Katara. He sighed in relief. _She's still here._ Her hair covered her face. She had twisted free of him. Now her shoulders shook gently.

_Oh, no._ "Katara?" He reached for her, but pulled his hand away at the last second. "Sweetness, what's wrong?" Fear spread through his stomach. He pulled the sheet aside and looked for blood. "Did I hurt you? Are you all right?"

She only cried louder. "I'm fine," she said between sobs.

"Then why are you crying?"

She curled more tightly into herself. "There's something I have to tell you."

He slid one cautious arm around her. "Then tell me, so I can fix it," he said.

"You can't fix this," she said under her breath. "It's about Aang."

Zuko's skin went cold. _She still loves him. She feels guilty and she's going to leave. It's over before it began. _"Yes?"

"I really loved Aang," Katara said.

"I know."

"The other men who tried to get my attention just wanted the Avatar's waterbender, you know? They didn't care who I was before the final battle. Aang treated me like a real person."

"He loved you." Zuko stroked her arm. "You're very easy to love."

He saw the corner of her smile. "Thank you." She sighed. "He also needed me. And I guess I like being needed by somebody. Before he mastered the Avatar state, I had to bring him out of it. I had to wrap him up and hold him while he cried, until he stopped glowing." She sniffed. "I liked being the person who could do that for him. It made me feel special."

"You're already-"

"Let me finish," she said. "What I'm trying to say is that sometimes, it felt more like I was Aang's mother than his lover. And that didn't change during our marriage." She turned over so that she rested on her back, and stared up at the ceiling. "Do you remember when Aang when to look for more airbenders?"

"Of course."

"He didn't find any. He really was the last. And that hit him really hard. I think that deep down he'd always hoped to find a few. So when he found me again, I think I responded to how sad he was. All my old instincts came back. He was mine again. The world had returned to normal."

"Because you had an Avatar to look after."

She nodded. "Right. So it was easy to agree, when he asked me to marry him. Because he had these big projects planned -- refurbishing the temple, organizing the orphanage -- and he was like his old self: boundless optimism, endless energy. And I got swept up in it."

Zuko frowned. "What are you saying? You loved Aang. You just told me so."

"I know. But being married to him was like being married to my best friend -- if my best friend wanted to have kids, because he hoped they would be airbenders. And he thought that I would be the perfect mother to them, because he'd experienced it first-hand."

It was Zuko's turn to roll over onto his back. He lay there breathing and digesting the information. "I had no idea children were so important to him."

"He didn't have much of a childhood. None of us did, I guess. But he wanted to make up for lost time, and the only way to do it was to surround himself with other kids. I think that's part of why he started the orphanage. But even that didn't get at what he really wanted, which was more airbenders."

"But bending isn't transmitted by blood," Zuko said.

"But it _is_ more likely in bending families," Katara said. "It's not like Aang wouldn't have loved them if they weren't airbenders. He wanted children. He wanted them with me. It's just that I couldn't give them to him."

Zuko turned. "What?"

She blinked. A single tear rolled down her temple and into her hair. "I miscarried," she said.

"You were pregnant?" He propped his head on an elbow. "Uncle never told me…"

She shook her head. "No one knew. Not even Sokka. I wanted to wait until the three-month mark. But the baby didn't make it." Her face crumpled and he reached for her hands to cover them. Katara took a deep breath. Their hands rose on her stomach. "It hurt. A lot. Not just in my heart, but my whole body. It was like being turned inside out. I was in too much pain to bend, and I couldn't even heal myself."

"Dear sages…"

"Aang saw how much it hurt me, and he swore never to put me through that again. He said children weren't important if they were going to put me in danger. I told him that we could see other healers, try to figure out what had gone wrong, but he wouldn't hear it. He could be so stubborn, sometimes." She shrugged. "And after that, we stopped sharing a bedroom."

Zuko blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I told him that healing benders can control conception. We can move the fluids higher and lower inside ourselves. It's complicated, but it's still bloodbending. So we could still sleep together. But he didn't want to."

He found it in himself to be wry. "Trust me. He wanted to."

Katara shook her head. "No, he didn't. I know that over time, couples drift apart. Sometimes it's just hard to find some privacy, especially in orphanage filled with kids. But it wasn't like that with Aang. It was like he just blew out a candle. It was that simple. I couldn't believe how easy it was for him. He just dismissed that part of married life the way he refused meat."

"Then he was an even bigger fool than I ever thought."

She smiled. "Thanks for saying so. But that's the difference between you two. Aang was the Avatar. It takes that kind of strength to reject temptation and keep the chakras clear. It's worth it if it means that another Avatar can take his place. As his wife, I had to accept that." She sighed. "At least, that's what I thought."

"And now?"

"Now…" Katara looked into Zuko's face. "Now I'm not so sure." She blushed. "Because for as much as Aang loved me, and as much as I loved him…" Her eyes welled with tears. "What you and I had last night was something Aang and I never shared. And I missed out on that because I didn't know it was even possible, and because your stupid honor held you back." She poked him in the chest feebly. "Part of me feels really guilty, you know? I shouldn't even compare you with Aang in that way. It's not fair. People are different."

He traced a line from her belly to her knee and back again. "And the other part?"

She bit her lower lip before answering. "The other part feels very liberated."

≅

Afterward, she sat in bed watching him shave in a small mirror angled to best catch the sunlight. "I never saw this when we were on the road together."

"I did it every morning before you woke up."

"Oh, right. Firebenders rise with the sun and all that."

He swished the razor in a basin of water. Iroh had taught him to shave. It was harder when they were on the road and they had no mirror. He used the smooth, gleaming side of a teapot. That was one of the few things he actually liked about their place in Ba Sing Se: the washroom. It was a dingy little shared place at the end of the hall, but it had a mirror and he could heat the water as much as he liked when the door was locked. Funny, he hadn't thought about that place in years.

"Do you think anyone knows?" Katara asked.

He watched her in the mirror. "Would you care if they did?"

"I would have thought that you would. You're the Fire Lord, after all."

He pulled the razor down through warm foam. "At the moment, I feel more like Lee."

"Who?"

"Never mind. Do you want breakfast?"

"That sounds wonderful." She slid out of bed and picked up her dress. "I really should check on Kurzu. I'm sure he's hungry, too."

"Hey. Stop." He toweled off the last of the foam and crossed the room. He took the dress from her and enfolded her in his arms. Their bare skin pressed together warmly.

"What's this for?"

"I want to." He buried his nose in her hair and inhaled. "Mmm…"

Katara giggled. "You're holding me like I'm going to blow away any minute."

"You might."

She pulled away. "I'm going to get dressed now, and then I'm going to get Kurzu, and the three of us are going to have something to eat. I promise." Grinning, she stepped into her clothes. "You can send out a search party after five minutes."

He smiled. "See that I don't have to."

"Hey, I don't take orders from you." Her grin broadened. "Quite the reverse, in fact."

"It's always a pleasure to serve."

≅

The next two days were the finest Zuko remembered since the three-day festival following his father's death. They moved at a much slower pace, although sometimes it seemed that he turned around and the whole afternoon had passed in a blur of sun and waves and feedings. _It's going to end when you arrive home_, a voice within him said. It sounded like Azula. _Nothing this perfect can ever last, especially not for you. _But he ignored it and paced the length of the boat with Katara and Kurzu. He held the child at arm's length as Katara bent water up from the sea to bathe his small, squirming body. Now that he received regular servings of untainted congee and mashed mango, Kurzu's color had improved and he seemed to constantly push away from Zuko and Katara to crawl around the room on his elbows like a soldier doing stealth drills.

"He should really be walking by now," Katara said, shifting weight and tilting her head as she watched Kurzu make his clumsy rounds.

"Plenty of late-bloomers go on to great things," Zuko said. "What he lacks in grace he makes up for in eagerness."

She turned to him and slid an arm around his middle. "You sound like Iroh."

"Thank you," he said, and kissed her scalp.

Katara's more intimate hungers continued to surprise him, as well. She was like a starving child let into a bakery. She cornered him during Kurzu's every nap, and between his late-night crying jags. Not that Zuko had any objection -- although he did wonder if the Avatar's spirit would be arriving anytime soon to mete out punishment. It was as though she had uncovered a wellspring inside herself. That energy, desire, and pleasure overflowed into him and left him feeling young, if a little depleted. His skin hadn't tingled this way since before Ozai's death. And his spirit had not burned with such hope since the moments just after it.

The night before they arrived at the capital Kurzu simply refused to sleep. He cried if put down, and clung to Katara's legs if she walked away. "I think he finally understands that his mother isn't coming back," she said, hefting the child for what seemed the thousandth time. Kurzu squalled into her neck and twisted in her grasp. He pulled her hair, causing her to bite back a curse. "Can't you order him to quit, or something? He's Fire Nation, after all."

Zuko looked up from the scroll he was reading. "Kurzu, your Lord orders you to stop giving his Lady so much trouble."

"_Your_ Lady, huh?" Katara asked. Her voice teased, but her eyes smiled.

"I'm simply trying to instill good citizenship," Zuko said. He stood and circled Katara so that he stood behind her. He pulled her hair back from her neck and kissed her there. "He should learn that this Fire Lord is very happy to reward loyalty."

"Loyalty, hmm?"

"Indeed."

"What about foreigners?" she asked. "How does this Fire Lord reward them?"

"Eagerly and often," he said, kissing down her shoulder. He heard her breath catch and smiled. "I think a bath is in order."

"We already-"

"I meant for us."

She half-turned. "Come to think of it, I am feeling a little dirty."

≅

That morning as dawn lightened the room, Zuko's eyes opened to see Katara on the other side of the bed, her body forming a defensive wall so that Kurzu could not roll out. The child lay asleep between them. Zuko's heart twisted and swelled with a feeling too large for him to encompass. Feverish warmth overtook him, as though he had just summoned a great tide of fire. His vision blurred and the breath left his lungs. _It's the change_, he realized. _It happened after Lake Laogai, and again when the comet came and gave me the strength to defeat Ozai. It's an omen, a burst of power to do what's necessary. _

"But what must I do?" he whispered. Katara stirred, and he reached for her face. "This is right," he said, tracing his fingers over her jaw. "I know it is. Just tell me how to keep you, and I'll do it."

But she made no reply, and he fell asleep with dreams of two fish who circled one another without touching.


	9. Chapter 8

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Fandomme**

**T for Teen**

**Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to heal the victims of an epidemic sweeping the Fire Nation.**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon and VIACOM. No profit is made by this story.**

≅

They arrived later that morning. The announcement of their arrival must have garnered significant attention, because a crowd awaited them. It was mostly women and children and dock-workers. It was almost noon, and they stood eating dumplings and yuzu as they waited. _Surely these people have work they could be doing._ Zuko descended the steel staircase to polite cheering, but Katara's appearance ignited raucous shouts and foot-stomping.

"Are the rumors true, my Lord?" one of Zuko's secretaries, a thin little man with an old-fashioned mustache, asked, as soon as Zuko set foot on the ground. "Are you and the Bloodbender adopting the child? When is your wedding?"

"Excuse me?" Zuko asked as someone pushed him to the forefront of the crowd. He turned. Katara stood beside him, bouncing Kurzu. Her hair was loose, the way he liked it, and Kurzu's eyes had gone huge. Even Katara looked surprised by the attention. _Why should she be? The two of you weren't even the slightest bit discreet. Someone must have sent a letter ahead. Of course these people are expecting a familial announcement._

Still kicking himself for his lack of foresight, Zuko raised his arms. "People of Kaino-tama!" he shouted. "Please, bear with me. Lady Katara and I have only just now returned from Tetsushi. While we were there, we saw many terrible things. We saw an entire town brought low by one man's greed." As the crowd quieted, he explained: "The people of Tetsushi were poisoned by one of their own citizens. His name was Tizo, and he failed them both as an overseer and as a neighbor. As refinery overseer, he allowed lead to taint the water supply." Zuko half-turned to Katara. "But without Lady Katara's help, we would never have learned this. With her healing skills, she was able to diagnose the problem. Thanks to her, we have stopped the poisoning of Tetsushi. The surrounding area is now safe."

Again, polite cheering. Katara tried bowing -- it was difficult while holding Kurzu -- and then the people roared, as though seeing her for the first time. Zuko raised his arms again. The sun beat down on him. He began to sweat. "There are now wanted posters circulating with Tizo's face on them. I want every citizen to memorize his face. Let it be known that any individual who so thoroughly betrays the Fire Nation will no longer have a place within its borders. Tizo's greed almost caused the needless deaths of an entire town. I refuse to allow or forgive such behavior."

This brought the mood down a little, to Zuko's relief. This lasted only a moment, however, as Katara stepped forward and held Kurzu to face the crowd. "This is Kurzu," she said. The crowd squealed and made "ahhh" noises. Zuko barely restrained an eyeroll. "His mother was a Fire Nation native of Tetsushi, but his father was a Water Tribesman from my own community. This boy -- this beautiful, healthy boy -- is an example of what can happen if two nations decide to work together. Orphans like Kurzu are abundant at the Southern Air Temple orphanage. It's for them, and for all children, that the four nations must continue to uphold the Avatar's peace."

This time there were yips and whoops from the crowd, and Katara stepped back. "Spoken like a true Fire Lady!" someone shouted, and the people erupted into laughter and cheering. Zuko risked a quick look at Katara, who laughed as well before adjusting her grip on Kurzu and making for the carriage.

Inside, she sighed and leaned against his shoulder. "Can we not do that again for a while?"

"But they love you," Zuko said. "They love you more than they love me."

She snorted. "They love the idea of me as Fire Lady," she said. "They love the idea of you having an heir." She sat up and re-positioned Kurzu on her lap. "I'm just a walking womb to them."

The carriage rattled uphill. Small stones struck the axles and made irregular popping sounds. Zuko sat, swaying, staring at Katara in her seat of crimson silk cushions. _How can you say such an evil thing,_ he wanted to ask. _How can you even imagine someone thinking of you that way?_ But he knew. It was Aang and his wish for airbenders all over again.

≅

His uncle was not there to greet them when they arrived at home. Instead, a gaggle of secretaries and ministers awaited him, all seemingly intent on grabbing a piece of his attention: "My Lord, the latest report on rice yields." "My Lord, the Northern fleet specifications." "My Lord, the drawings you requested." Soon his arms overflowed with scrolls of all sizes.

He affixed Katara with a wry look. "It never ends." He turned. "Have my mother's old room prepared for Lady Katara," he told the head of housekeeping. "Where is my uncle?" 

"With his guests in the western garden, my Lord."

"Guests?"

"He said he wished it to remain a surprise, my Lord."

"Why are you giving me a new room?"

He turned to see Katara frowning at him. "Dismissed," he said to the waiting crowd, and waited for them to leave before touching Kurzu's head lightly. "There's a trundle under the bed," he said. "That way, this little one can have his own bed, and you still have plenty of space to spread out."

One eyebrow arched. "Spread out?"

"You do tend to sprawl," he said in her ear. "Let's see my uncle."

They found Iroh seated on a stone half-circle before a portable brazier scattering the crumbs of moon-cakes for a horde of waiting sparrowkeets. He sat with his broad back to them, and two women sat on either side. Low, artfully-maintained trees dotted the gravel path leading down to them. As Zuko and Katara stepped down into the garden, the woman sitting to Iroh's left pricked up her ears.

"Now those are some footsteps I haven't heard in a while."

Suddenly Zuko's arms were full of Kurzu. _"Toph!"_ Katara nearly skipped down the steps. She caught the other woman in her arms and hugged her tight. Toph coughed and patted Katara on the back.

"Easy there, Sugar Queen. I'm not going anywhere."

"But what are you doing here? When did you arrive? How did you-"

"Who is this?" Iroh asked, as Zuko descended the stone steps. The old man put down his teacup and opened his arms.

"This is Kurzu," Zuko said, handing the child over. "He's a refugee."

"Well, we wouldn't know anything about that, would we?" Iroh asked, winking at his nephew and bouncing the child on his ample belly. "Honestly, nephew, you never so much as let a pygmy puma follow you home, and now you return with a child?"

"He's very beautiful," said a quiet voice, and Zuko turned to see the woman at Iroh's right inclining her head in Kurzu's direction. She was taller than Toph, with delicate features and long, tapered fingers. She wore her black hair in one long cascade from a silken headband, and a matching robe of pale green.

"You must be…" Zuko didn't know how to finish his sentence.

"Ling," she said, bowing deeply. "Toph's traveling companion."

"Traveling companion," he said. "Of course."

Ling pinked a little. "It is an honor to meet you."

"Oh, please," Katara said, finally disentangling herself from Toph. "We're the ones who are honored. Toph has told me so much about you."

Ling only blushed more deeply. "I hope only the good things…"

"Nonsense," Toph said. "I told them all that you're a picky eater and you can never decide what to wear."

"Oh, is that all?"

"Well, I left out the part about the platypus bear."

For some reason, all three laughed. Clearly, a joke was afoot that Zuko was not privy to. He made to pour himself a cup of tea, but there were no more cups. Standing fully, he began making his way up the steps again. "Nephew?"

"More cups," Zuko said over his shoulder.

When he returned, Katara was telling the story of Tetsushi. Iroh sat beside her and bounced Kurzu on one knee. "So, the overseer is still out there," Iroh said.

"Yes," Katara said. "There are wanted posters up everywhere, though."

"We'll find him," Zuko said, and handed Katara a cup of tea.

"Thank you."

"And will you be returning to your orphanage?" Ling asked.

Katara hesitated. Zuko's stomach tightened. "That was my plan, yes."

"Oh, but then you will miss your brother and sister-in-law, and all your nieces and nephews," Iroh said.

"What?" Katara and Zuko asked in unison.

Iroh smiled. "Well, I got so lonely without you, nephew, and it was lovely to hear a woman's voice in the house again, so I invited Toph and Ling. But then I thought, why not have an impromptu family reunion?" He grinned at Katara. "Your brother and his family should be here soon."

"How soon?" Zuko asked.

"Well, that depends on when my dragon-hawk actually reaches them. You see, I have yet to hear back from them."

Zuko wasn't sure whether to strangle the old man or applaud him for his craftiness. Knowing Sokka and Suki were on their way would only delay Katara further, and keep her in the household longer. _And you thought his meddling ended with that little attack of faux food poisoning._

Katara fixed Iroh with a suspicious glare before shifting her attention to Zuko. "You won't hear from them," she said. "I asked Sokka and Suki to go to the temple in my place." She looked back at Iroh. "They had probably left by the time you sent your message."

"Never fear," Iroh said pleasantly. "I sent several messages, including one to your friend Haru. He should be at the temple by now." He lifted Kurzu in the air. "There is nothing to worry about. The children are safe." He said it in his best baby-talk voice.

"The kids at the temple need me," Katara said.

"Your family needs you, too," Iroh said. "When was the last time you saw your brother?"

"The old man's got a point, Sugar Queen," Toph said. "The last time we were all together was…" She trailed off and dug a hole in the gravel with one toe. "Well, you know."

Katara sighed. "I just don't want to shirk my responsibilities…"

"Lady Katara, I hope you will forgive me for saying so, but I believe that it is also your responsibility to return to the temple refreshed and relaxed, so as to best serve the interests of the children," Ling said. "Over the years, I have grown used to being Toph's eyes. If she were to ask me how you look now, I would tell her that you are in obvious need of a good rest after working so hard."

"What an eloquent young lady you are," Iroh said. "I could not have said it better myself."

As though mention of rest brought on thoughts of sleep, Katara yawned. "I guess I haven't been getting much sleep lately…"

"No, you haven't," Zuko said, before instantly clamping his lips shut. Katara shot him a lethal glance. He felt Toph and Iroh's direct stares burning little holes in his chest. "The baby kept you awake the whole trip back, I mean, and you were pushing yourself so hard in Tetsushi trying to heal everyone…"

"That's true," Katara said. "Speaking of which, I suppose I should get a nap in before dinner." She stood.

"An excellent idea," Iroh said, following her. "Would you like to take Kurzu with you? The nursery hasn't been prepared in ages, but I'm sure we can find someone to do it."

"That won't be necessary," Katara said, taking Kurzu from Iroh's arms. "He's used to me by now, and anything else that disrupts his routine will probably just make him fussier." She frowned and looked at the child. "Although if there are any baby clothes in the house…"

Iroh offered an arm to the two Earth Kingdom women. "Ling, we are now on a quest for children's clothing."

"Yes sir," Ling said, smiling and twining her arm with his.

"Does this quest involve as much time in the market as the last one did?" Toph asked, and the other two laughed.

Zuko sidled up to Katara and Kurzu. "I'll walk you to your new room."

"That's all right, we can find it ourselves," Katara said, and strode on ahead. Her footsteps rang dryly on the flagstones. Kurzu watched Zuko from over her shoulder, his hands making fat fistfuls of her hair. The scene reminded Zuko of something, but he couldn't remember what.

≅

That afternoon Zuko's scar throbbed. Heavy clouds moved in over the palace, and the air hung heavy and damp over the grounds. "I wish it would just rain already," Toph said at dinner.

"It does make our quest more difficult," Iroh said. "I would hate to give Kurzu my nephew's cast-offs, but if Katara insists…"

Pleading exhaustion, Katara had requested dinner in her room. Iroh had pledged to send her a special calming restorative tea he blended himself: ginger, chamomile, rosehips, "and a little something sweet," that Zuko suspected might be cherry blossom liqueur. Without her and Kurzu at the table, the state room seemed oddly empty. Zuko tried to recall the last time he had sat in this room with his entire family. "It must have been before the first siege," he said to himself.

"What was that, nephew?"

Zuko shook his head to clear it. "Nothing, uncle."

"It's not _nothing_, you said _something_ just now," Toph said. "So. Out with it."

Zuko folded his napkin. "I was merely trying to remember an occasion when the whole family used this room for dinner."

"Before the siege," Iroh said. "You were very young, and Azula was even younger. My father sat where you are now, with me beside him and Lu Ten beside me, with Ozai on the other side and Ursa beside him." He smiled. "You were beside Ursa, and Azula sat beside you. I seem to remember her poking you with one of her toys."

"But what about your mother?" Ling asked. "Where did she sit?"

Iroh blinked. "_My_ mother? Oh. Well. She was like my own wife, Ku Mei. In fact, I think they were even distant cousins. Both of them died in childbirth." Iroh took a sip of his tea. "My father, Fire Lord Azulon, never truly forgave my brother for that."

Zuko's chopsticks clattered to his bowl. He turned to his uncle. "Is that true?"

"When I enter the Spirit World, I will be sure to ask him, but I believe it to be so," Iroh said. He held his bowl in one hand and grasped noodles with the other. "It was a very long time ago, nephew, and my father was old-fashioned. He believed that Ozai had somehow stolen your grandmother's life. Of course, he would never say such a thing -- he was a superstitious man, but hid it very well -- but I noticed that he treated Ozai differently."

"Guess we know why Ozai favored the youngest child," Toph said, her mouth full of noodles. "Sorry, Sparky, but it had to be said."

"Were there any signs?" Zuko asked.

"Of my father's disfavor? Well, first, he-"

"No, I mean of Grandmother and Ku Mei's childbearing trouble," Zuko said. He felt his good ear go pink. "I mean…they must have seen the palace physicians and their own midwives… Couldn't someone have warned them?"

Iroh frowned and squirmed a little. "Well, if anyone gave my mother such a warning, she told me nothing about it." He shrugged. "Then again, my mother was a woman from a different era. Perhaps your generation shares things of a more private nature with children, but you would have to ask Sokka and Suki about that."

"Those two can't keep a secret to save their lives," Toph said. "Their kids know when another one's on the way before they do."

"That's not necessarily bad secret-keeping," Ling said. "Perhaps the children are simply clever."

"It doesn't take a genius to know why your mom's vomiting all over the place when you've seen it a million times before."

"And there goes my appetite," Zuko said, pushing his bowl away.

≅

He waited until the rain came. By that time he had caught up on most of his reading, having chosen to defer the most technical texts -- new ship designs, a geological survey -- for the morning when he could approach them with a sharp mind. Now his pot of tea had gone cold and he listened to the rain pattering on the tiles above.

It had been on the tip of his tongue to ask his uncle if Ku Mei had ever miscarried a child. Somehow the two things seemed to fit: if a person's body had difficulty doing a certain task, then perhaps a previous failure was a sign of a fatal one to come. _But it's not like that_, Zuko thought, _it's not like bending. The body can't practice carrying a child. _Perhaps there were census records on the subject. Would questions like that be included? If they were, would Fire Nation women answer honestly? Katara had kept her miscarriage a secret from everyone, even her brother. Would women answering a census tell a complete stranger such things? Would his uncle tell him, if he asked? Somehow, he doubted it.

Zuko stood and stretched. His neck popped as he twisted it from side to side. His eyes itched. _Soon I'll need glasses like the old Earth King._ He looked at the room: spare and austere aside from the vibrantly-colored maps he'd had hung in place of his father's antique weapons. His twin blades hung above a bed sheathed in black silk brocade. It looked big and lonely tonight, like the sea under a new moon.

Sighing, Zuko shrugged off his outer jacket and vest, and slid on a pair of slippers. He cleaned his teeth, washed his face, and opened his armoire. Stepping inside, he blew softly in a dragon-shaped pneumatic lock. The other side of the armoire opened quietly, and he stepped through after closing the armoire after himself. He stood now in a dusty, narrow passageway. His right hand found the slender railing and he began walking. He hadn't used this passage since first discovering it, having no need for it, and his skin crawled at each sound that he imagined might be a rat or a spider. Lighting a tiny ball of flame in one palm, he proceeded down the rest of the passage until he found a door. This too he opened with a fire-tinged breath. Resurrecting his Blue Spirit stealth, he slipped into his mother's old room.

In the light of his own flame, he saw Katara asleep in his mother's old bed, surrounded by gold brocade and deep amber satin. Although someone had pulled out the trundle and dressed it, Kurzu lay curled up under Katara's arm. _May the sages bless whichever Fire Lord commissioned the building of that passage._ Snuffing the flame out with his fist, Zuko approached the bed. He pulled off his shirt and cautiously lifted the covers. His fingers had just grazed Katara's hip when he received a sharp elbow to the stomach. Katara rolled over top of him and he felt a pressure building in his neck, it was getting hard to breathe…_You were a fool for surprising a bloodbender, Zu-Zu,_ his sister's voice taunted him.

He took hold of Katara's wrists and pried them away. "It's _me_," he hissed.

She punched him in the stomach and he coughed. "It serves you right for sneaking in here like a thief!" she said in a terse whisper. "How did you get in here, anyway?"

"Secret passage," he said, gagging.

She snorted. "Typical. You couldn't just _ask_ to spend the night."

"And have the rest of the palace know?"

"What, are you ashamed?"

"Of course not!"

"Don't shout!" she said in a stage whisper. "You'll wake up Kurzu!"

He re-lit the flame in his palm and stared at her. One strap of her plain white shift had fallen from her shoulder, and he had to forcibly direct his eyes away from the surprisingly-enticing patch of shoulder it left bare. "Don't you want me to be discreet?"

"Not if it's because you're embarrassed about this!" Her eyes narrowed. She pointed at the secret panel from which he had entered the room. "This is the real reason you switched my room, isn't it? So you could just have me anytime you wanted, and no one would know. It wasn't about Kurzu at all."

_She has you, there._ He stammered: "It was… It wasn't _just_ about Kurzu."

Katara's palm met her forehead. "I thought you cared about him, Zuko."

"I do. You know I do."

"You just happen to care about sleeping with me more."

"Don't make me the villain because I happen to enjoy taking you to bed. The last time I checked, you liked it, too."

Her arms crossed. "Well, I don't like being shuffled from room to room just for your convenience! Did you ever stop to think about what I might want?"

"Apparently not," Zuko said. "While we're on the subject, what _do_ you want? Are telling me you wouldn't have minded if I had chosen to tell my uncle and Toph and Ling this afternoon about how we've spent the past three days. Wouldn't that make a nice welcome gift for your brother? 'Please enjoy your stay in the Fire Nation, Sokka, and by the way -- did you know your sister enjoys letting the Fire Lord ravish her every night?'"

Katara blinked. Her mouth opened, then closed. She seemed unable to contain something -- wrath or laughter, Zuko couldn't tell. Finally she succumbed and giggled through her nose. _"Ravish?"_

He ducked his head. "It was all I could think of that wasn't…vulgar."

"Oh, and you've never been vulgar."

A smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. "Only with you, Sweetness."

Katara rolled her eyes. "Lucky me." Smiling, she re-settled herself on top of him so that her breath tickled his nose. His fire petered out and the sudden darkness left him hyper-aware of her warmth, her smell. "You've been a very bad boy, Mister Fire Lord."

Zuko arched up helplessly and whispered in her ear: "You have no idea."

"And that's really too bad."

"Why's that?"

"Because bad boys aren't getting lucky, tonight," she said, and rolled away. "I _just _got this baby to sleep, and it's a _miracle_ he hasn't woken up again. And I think I'm still a little mad at you. So you'll just have to grin and bear it." She dug her head into the pillows.

Restraining a frustrated groan, Zuko followed her and looped an arm over her. "One kiss," he said, nuzzling her neck. "I haven't kissed you in ten hours."

She shifted. "You counted?"

"I happen to have a very accurate internal chronometer."

"Oh, is _that_ what that is?" she asked, wiggling. "It doesn't seem so internal, to me."

He nipped her ear. "Now who's being vulgar?"

"You've caught me. I confess."

"You're lucky I don't tie you to a tree," he said. "Kiss me."

Katara turned and he pulled her close. His hand plunged into her hair and held her face. He made the kiss last as best he could. It came out gentler than he'd intended, softer, more reverent, as though he really were as new to this as she made him feel. When they pulled away, Katara wavered a little. "You really know how to say goodnight," she said.

She settled into the pillows. He molded himself to her and buried his nose between her neck and shoulder, sliding a hand over her belly. "You should hear me say good morning."

≅

The next morning, Zuko's eyes opened to find Kurzu playing on the floor. The child had somehow crawled away from Katara, down to his trundle bed, and onto the floor. He headed straight for a heavy cabinet. Zuko watched in sleepy amusement as Kurzu tried to climb up the glossy, slippery surface of lacquered wood. He failed each time, and finally voiced his frustration by banging on the door with his tiny palm. The door rattled on its hinge and the cabinet made a deep, resonant sound. Beside him, Katara startled awake.

"It's nothing," Zuko said as she sat up. "Just Kurzu."

As though he knew he were the subject of conversation, Kurzu turned to them, smiled, and banged on the cabinet even harder. Katara groaned. "_How_ does Suki put up with so many babies?"

"The same way she puts up with your brother, I suspect."

Katara sent him a look that said she was not amused. Rolling his eyes, Zuko sat up and slid off the bed. "Kurzu, as your Fire Lord I order you to make less noise." He bent and picked up the child. Kurzu reeked. "Ugh! Dear sages, have you been tracking shit all over my carpets?"

Behind him, Katara stifled laughter. He turned to her, holding Kurzu at arms' length. For some reason, she found this terribly funny, and she hid under the covers giggling uncontrollably. A Katara- shaped lump trembled under the gold brocade. Zuko marched for the bed. "This isn't funny!"

Katara only laughed harder. From beneath the covers, she pointed at him. "Don't bring him over here. Take him into the washroom and bathe him."

"Would my favorite waterbender like to help me with that particular task?"

"No. Your favorite waterbender intends to sleep in."

Zuko looked at Kurzu. The child blinked. His hair stuck up on one side and Zuko had the oddest urge to tamp it down. "I'm re-opening the nursery, and hiring a nanny," he said. "The greatest men in this country were looked after by nannies, and you won't be any different."

"Stop stalling, Sparky."

≅

Zuko navigated the passage back to his own room with a spring in his step. Bathing Kurzu had somehow turned into a bathing party with him, Katara, and the child crammed into his mother's cedar-and-granite tub. Firebenders and waterbenders were uniquely suited to the best bathing experience, Zuko had decided. One could keep the water moving while the other kept it warm. And washing Katara's back -- and washing her _hair_ -- was the perfect way to start his day. Meditation just paled in comparison to all that dark, fragrant loveliness tumbling through his fingers while the woman in question squirmed and purred under his hands.

He had resolved to spend every morning thusly until Katara either left or came to her senses. He was in the midst of a happy daydream involving her and a bar of soap when he emerged on the other side of his armoire. The room was as he left it, the bed still made, his clothes hanging on the chair. Only one exception dimmed his mood.

"So, nephew," Iroh said as he poured a second cup of tea, "is there something you would like to tell me?"


	10. Chapter 9

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Fandomme**

**T for Teen**

**Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to heal the victims of an epidemic sweeping the Fire Nation.**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon and VIACOM. No profit is made by this story.**

Zuko blinked at his uncle. _You've done nothing wrong,_ he told himself. The room seemed hot, suddenly. Something was pounding, somewhere, and he dimly realized that it was his heart. The last time his uncle had looked at him this way, the old man was encased in glittering crystals and the Avatar appeared dead. Twelve years had done nothing to lighten the burden of his uncle's disapproving gaze.

"What do you want to know?" Zuko asked, leaning against the armoire.

"The truth," Iroh said. "Tea?"

"Yes, please," Zuko said, and took the tea from him. He sank down into the nearest chair. Its ivory silk cushions felt too soft and springy under him. He rested his elbows on his knees.

"Did you honestly think I would not know where that passage leads?" Iroh asked. "Did you forget that I was once intended to be Fire Lord?"

Zuko resisted the urge to hide his face. "I…wasn't thinking about that."

Iroh sipped his tea. "Clearly, you had other things on your mind."

"Nothing happened," Zuko said. "We… I… It's not like you think."

"Please, nephew. Do inform me of what I think. My own thoughts tend to get away from me in my old age."

Zuko looked up into a face that appeared suddenly ancient in its disappointment. He swallowed and tried to recall the anger that had reared up just a second ago. _You're an adult. She's an adult. Tell him that. Tell him it's none of his business. _"You think I'm doing the wrong thing, but I'm not."

Iroh leaned back. He twisted his teacup between his fingertips. "You think that's what I think?"

"Uncle, she-"

_"Silence!"_ Iroh stood. "I think that you have disgraced this house. I think that you have taken advantage of a _widow_ -- your _friend's_ widow -- in your own _mother's_ bed. And I think that I must be to blame, because you took my good-natured meddling as an excuse to behave in a way not even your _father_ considered appropriate."

"Uncle, it's not-"

"I'm not finished," Iroh said. Calmly, he set down his teacup. "When I arranged things the way I did, I meant for you to court Katara. I did not intend for you to worm your way into her bed so you could sample the goods first!"

_"Shut up!"_ Zuko rocketed from his chair. It and the teacup tumbled to the floor. "Don't presume to discuss something you don't understand, uncle."

"Oh, I understand. I understand plenty. I understand that you're about to ruin the best thing that could have ever happened to you!" Iroh pointed at the armoire. "Katara is the finest woman to look your way, and-"

"Then stop talking about her like she's a _thing!_" Zuko balled his fists. "She's not _goods._ I'm not _sampling_ anything."

Iroh folded his arms inside his sleeves. "Then what are you doing, my nephew?"

Zuko looked at the twin blades above his bed. If only all problems could simply be sliced through. "I don't know."

≅

Zuko moved through firebending forms, but didn't feel them. He missed by wider and wider margins, his trainers frowning at one another. "Are you still dizzy, my Lord?" they asked. "Last night, did you feel the waves?"

"What waves?" Zuko asked.

"What we mean to say is, your land-legs might not have returned yet, my Lord."

_That's one way of putting it,_ he thought, and let them lead him through a boring series of deep stretches imparted to them by Guru Pathik years ago.

Then it was breakfast, to which he was late. The others had already gone -- he suspected his uncle of eating sheer vitriol for this morning's meal -- so he ate in his office, picking at fish that had gone cold as he read report after report and dictated correspondence to his best calligrapher, Master Sho.

"My Lord?" the calligrapher asked.

"Yes?"

"How would you like to finish this sentence?"

"What sentence?"

Master Sho smiled gently. "The one you began dictating five minutes ago, my Lord."

Zuko grimaced. "We'll finish it later. Let them wait. What's next on the pile?"

His third-level secretary stepped forward. "A letter requesting an audience, my Lord."

"From whom?"

His secretary frowned. "A group calling itself the Society for Justice in Learning," he said.

"That's creative. What do they want, aside from audience?"

His secretary scanned the letter. "Money, naturally." He raised a dubious eyebrow. "It seems they think there is a dearth of good education for boys in the nation's capital, and elsewhere. Overcrowding, they say. Too many men returning home from war to sow their wild oats, as they say -- as though that could ever be a bad thing. They blame it on the cuts to military spending."

"The letter," Zuko prompted.

"Oh, yes. Of course, my Lord. They have included here a proposal for funding the construction of a new school -- like the Fire Academy for Girls, they say, only for boys too." The secretary sneered. "I suspect this letter was sent by young boys hoping for a prettier classroom."

"Save it for later. I'll look at it tonight." He looked at both of them. "Where is the head of housekeeping? I want the nursery re-opened."

"Your uncle already put in the request, my Lord, when he learned that Lady Katara's brother and his family would be visiting."

Zuko shook his head. "No, I need it sooner than that."

His secretary beamed. "Yes, my Lord. Right away. I shall deliver the message myself." And with that he scurried off.

Zuko turned to the calligrapher. "Sokka's family has agreed to visit?"

"The dragon-hawk arrived this morning, my Lord."

"Master Sho," Zuko said, addressing the calligrapher, "what do you know about choosing a nanny?"

≅

Mercifully, lunch came and he actually had the time to attend. Toph and Ling arrived covered in twigs -- it seemed Iroh had devoted his morning to giving them a lesson in flower-arrangement -- and Katara smiled at him in a way that sent his stomach flipping over. He claimed a spot next to her and glowered at his uncle from across the table.

"What is that awful smell?" Toph asked.

"Strained seaweed and mashed tubers," Katara said. "It's traditional Water Tribe baby food."

"It stinks."

"Well it's lucky you're not eating it, then, isn't it?" Katara tried spooning up some of the disgusting mixture to Kurzu's lips, but the child turned his head this way and that to avoid it.

"He seems very stubborn," Ling said.

Toph muttered under her breath: "Like someone else we know."

"Perhaps the child has more of a Fire Nation palate," Iroh said. "Perhaps he would like some of my duck?"

"Perhaps Zuko should hold him so he can't squirm off my lap," Katara said, and deposited the child on Zuko's available thigh without asking. Zuko had to scramble to keep a firm grip on him. Kurzu sent him a pitiful _how can you let her do this to me_ look.

"Katara," Zuko ventured, "on the ship he seemed to like fruit-"

"Fruit is loaded with sugar. He needs vegetables."

Toph snickered. "You just got told, Sparky."

"Is seaweed a vegetable?" Ling asked. "I never thought of it as one, but I guess it is leafy and green."

"And gross," Toph added.

"It is very nutritious, though," Iroh said. "I know a recipe for a special seaweed mask to clear up-"

Katara grabbed his chin and directed it forward. "Zuko. Focus. I need your help, here." Katara spoke in an undertone. "Just don't let Kurzu wiggle away from you, okay?"

Her firm, direct touch reminded him of the night previous. _You've been a very bad boy, Mister Fire Lord._ He smiled. "Right." He tightened his grip on the boy. Kurzu still turned his nose up at the food. "If he keeps behaving this way, we'll never find a nanny for him."

Katara's face came up. She frowned. "I thought you were joking, earlier," she said in a whisper, bending down again.

Zuko bent closer to her. "You can't look after him all the time. You're supposed to be resting." He shrugged. "We have to re-open the nursery for Sokka's children soon. We might as well use it."

Katara finally succeeded in landing some food in Kurzu's mouth, but he promptly spat it out. Katara winced. "I guess it would be nice to let someone else put up with this for a while." She gestured with the spoon. "You know, you could help me out once in a while."

"Oh yes. He'll make a great addition to my office. 'Never mind the infant, gentlemen, he's just teething.'" He frowned. "Speaking of which, how many teeth does he have?" Zuko pulled Kurzu deeper onto his lap and tipped him back. The child's mouth and eyes opened wide. There in the back, Zuko saw three tiny, pearly teeth. "Only three? Is that normal?"

"I've been wondering about that, myself," Katara said. "It's like the walking. He's a little over a year, now, I think. He should be walking and talking and growing more teeth." She concentrated on the child's face. "I mean, I know he's small for his age, and underweight, but the other things…" She sighed. "It just worries me."

"Do you think he's sick?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. He seems fine, just a little slow."

"What's this I hear about Kurzu?" Iroh asked. He lumbered to his feet and rounded the table. He lifted the child from Zuko's lap. "They're not telling you that you're slow, are they, little one?"

"The other bloodbenders I know would be concerned if they met him," Katara said. "There are some tests I can do, I guess. I just thought maybe he would snap out of it and start talking."

Iroh lifted Kurzu up and down. "There's no need for that." He nodded at Zuko. "The Fire Lord over there didn't speak until he was almost three."

Zuko blinked. "I didn't?"

"No. Your mother was actually quite worried. We all thought something was wrong. But then one day you started speaking in whole sentences!" Iroh lifted the child again settled him over one shoulder. "Lu Ten was the complete opposite. He did everything early. Walked at nine months, spoke at ten. Your sister was the same. Your mother used to say that Azula ran before she could crawl." His brows knit. "That really should have told us something, now that I think of it."

"I spoke really early, too," Toph said. "My parents used to brag about it to themselves. I guess they were happy when I could do anything right."

"They were blind in their own way, too," Ling said. "After all, they had a prodigy in their midst and had no idea."

"Well said, Ling." Iroh "I think it's time Kurzu and I went on a sojourn to the kitchen for some tastier fare. One can't learn to walk on an empty stomach!" And with that, he sauntered out of the dining room with the child in his arms.

"But…I was feeding him," Katara said.

"I think Iroh has fully entered grandparent territory," Ling said. She gave Katara and Zuko a rueful smile. "Expect to be ignored."

≅

After lunch, Zuko checked on the progress of the nursery. He asked Katara to come with him. The room smelled of yuzu oil polish and fresh bedding. The servants stopped their work and bowed until he bid them to rise. "What do you think?" he asked Katara.

He watched her take in the room. The room was a fat oval, with miniature alcoves for eight small beds and a set of gauzy belled curtains like the ones in Zuko's old room ringing each of them. Long ago, an ambitious painter had done a circular map of the Fire Nation on the convex ceiling. Although the colors had since faded, the map retained some of its old grandeur. Like the most secure rooms in the palace, it used pneumatic locks and had no doors or windows to the outside. Instead, a variety of sconces hung above child-height, framed with burnished copper plates so as to double the lighting.

"The kids will love it," Katara said. She looked around. "Was there ever a Fire Lord with eight children?"

"Not that I recall. This room was designed to house both royal children and their cousins, or the children of visiting dignitaries." _I first slept with Mai in this room,_ he thought of saying. _Of course, I was six, and she slept on the other side of the room._

"It's a little big for Kurzu," Katara said. "But I guess it can't hurt to prepare him for life at the temple. Those rooms are _huge._"

Zuko looked at the floor. "So, you're still planning on taking him back with you."

Katara took a deep breath. "I have responsibilities there."

_What, you thought this would last forever?_ Zuko nodded. "Right." He swallowed. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to." Ignoring Katara's frown, he strode out of the room and into his office, where he stayed until long past dinner.

≅

Zuko had resolved not to see her that night. No matter that Kurzu was safely ensconced in the nursery with a woman from the kitchen who was nursing a child of the same age, thus leaving Katara with that big bed all to herself. _No. If this is going to end, better that it end before Sokka arrives. _After all, hadn't she told him that it was arrogant of him to visit her in the night without asking? It seemed like a clear enough directive to him: _stay away until I invite you._

He could wait. Nothing in Ozai's demeanor or Iroh's stories had prepared him for the avalanche of paper work that Fire Lords perpetually drowned in. He had no end of reading to distract him from his absence from Katara's bed:

_The Society for Justice in Learning puts forward two facts for consideration: first, that the population of school-aged Fire Nation children has risen considerably in the twelve years since the war, and that changes to taxation policy related to military spending have deprived half of these children of meaningful education, and second that this glut of uneducated children has a negative impact on Fire Nation society at both the urban and rural levels. _

_Inside this report, please find submitted data from the most recent census, as well as copies of reports from local militias about the rising trend in vandalism, petty theft, arson, and pregnancy in girls below the marrying age. Also included are written testimonials from craftsmen from all over the Fire Nation, who allege that none of the available workforce is suitably trained for their professions. Further copies of the following documents can be obtained by writing to the Society for Justice in Learning._

_The Society offers this evidence to convince the Most Honorable Fire Lord Zuko that the Fire Nation needs new policy regarding-_

A muffled knock sounded from Zuko's armoire. He put down the scroll and listened carefully. For a moment, he wondered if it was an especially large rat, or perhaps a sparrowkeet trapped between the walls somehow. But no, the knock sounded again, and it definitely sounded as though it came from within the armoire. Hurrying to his feet, Zuko opened the armoire, and opened the lock with a puff of breath before pulling a very dusty, cobwebby Katara into his room.

"Where were you?" she asked, dusting herself off. "The moon is so high, by now."

He folded his arms. "I thought you wanted me to stay away."

"When did I say that?"

"I can't remember. I was busy getting punched in the stomach."

She rolled her eyes. "I know. You're so oppressed." She looked at the room. "A black bed? Really?" She kicked off her slippers and knelt on it. Her white shift looked terribly pale and inviting against the black, and even more so when she let it fall to the floor. "Aren't you getting in?" she asked over her shoulder.

His head tilted. "Is this some form of retribution?"

She slid between the sheets. "What?"

"Last night I dropped in on you unannounced, and now you've done the same."

She crossed her arms. "Well, if you don't want me here-"

"I didn't say that. I just thought…" He struggled to find the words. _I thought this wasn't very important to you._ "I don't know what I thought."

Katara held out her arms. "Zuko. I got tired of waiting. So I thought I'd show you that you're not the only one who can use a secret passage." She frowned. "Although since there are pneumatic locks on them, I guess you are."

He sat on the bed. "That's not true. My uncle can use them too. The passage was put there by Fire Lords who wanted access to their Ladies' private chambers without alerting the entire palace. So anyone who has been Fire Lord, or who was trained to be one, knows about them." He winced. "In fact, my uncle was waiting here for me this morning."

He heard her hands fall dryly in the silk. _"What?"_

He turned. "He was sitting right on that chair, waiting."

Katara blinked several times as her cheeks reddened. "So he knows."

"He knows."

She took several deep breaths. "What did he say?"

_Just that I'm a disgrace. Nothing I haven't heard before. _"Nothing you need trouble yourself over."

"Don't give me that. I want to know."

He sighed. "Fine. He accused me of behavior unbecoming in a Fire Lord. He said that he'd never intended his meddling to have such shameful consequences."

Katara's mouth fell open. Her hand rose to cover it. For a moment her eyes shined bright and wet. "Iroh doesn't approve of me?"

A distinct chill washed over Zuko's skin. He crawled over the bed to sit beside her. "No. The opposite. He loves you, you know that. It's me." He sighed. "He said I was using you." Zuko sat against the cushioned bedstead and drew his knees to his chest. "He doesn't think I deserve…this. I think he wanted me to wait and court you properly, before…well…" He gestured between her naked body and his.

"But it's my body," Katara said in a hushed voice. "I can do what I want with it."

"I know that. But my uncle is old-fashioned. I think he'd rather I was writing you poems and buying you gifts, not…" He trailed off.

"Not sleeping with me," Katara said.

"Right."

She drew the sheets up around her and bounced her head against the pillows. "But… I mean, I came to you first…"

"That you did."

"And I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't want to."

"Of course not," Zuko said. "I have yet to meet the man who can force you into anything."

She grinned. "Thank you." She stretched her arms and flexed her fingers. He heard small bones popping in her shoulders. "Being a master waterbender helps."

"And a bloodbender, too," Zuko said. "You could kill me in my sleep with just one touch." He gave her a sidelong glance. "Are you sure you're not an assassin?"

"You caught me. I've been sent here to avenge an ancient wrong. I only make love to you to lull you into a false sense of security."

He raised his good eyebrow. "You _make love to _me?"

She turned to rest on her side. The laughter in her eyes sent warm, giddy fingers straight to his stomach. "Would you rather be _ravished_ instead?"

"I think I'd like to know the difference, first."

Her lips quirked. "Well that depends. Have you been good?"

"Very good," he said, edging closer.

She reached over and began undoing the buttons of his shirt with one hand. "Extra special good?"

"Extra special good," he said, and wondered where his voice had gone to.

Her hand paused just over his navel. "Extra special good with lantern-berries on top?"

Zuko lay flat and pulled her over him. "What you said."

Katara laughed and leaned down. She murmured in his bad ear: "Do you trust me?"

"With my life," he said.

"Because there's something I'd like to try…"

He inhaled the scent of her hair. "Whatever it is, please try it soon."

At first he noticed nothing -- aside from her lips and hands and the tickle of her hair on his chest -- but then a thrumming, budding pressure made itself known. She had bent his blood somehow. _I didn't know it could do that._ But he had little time for apprehension, because they were moving. And he soon discovered that yes, there was a difference, and she could make him feel it: could finish him quickly in a riot of clenched teeth and sweat, or spin him out until he was taut as a shamisen string and uncertain whether to plead for release or let it go on and on. She decided on the latter and he lost track of time. They moved together and he watched her dance and she said _No one's ever let me do this_ and he said _Do what you like, I'm yours. _His awareness narrowed to a single point and she cried out for a fourth time and said _I want you with me, this time_ and he said _Just let go. _So she did and he did, too, and his body was just a pulse, just a beat, just the ripples on a pond after a stone has been thrown in.

When she finally moved away and he snuffed out the lights and drew the curtains with a single lazy hand, she lay her head on his chest and asked: "Would you ever write me a poem?"

"I already did," he said, and the darkness made his voice small. "That's what young men do."

"How did it go?"

He counted the syllables by drumming his fingers on her bare skin:

_Rain and snow and ice_

_Cannot quench the desert sand_

_Only mercy's gaze_

"That's very sad," she said, her voice already slow and sleepy.

"I was very sad."

Her fingers dug around his ribs and she gripped him tighter. "I wish… I wish I'd known."

He kissed her hair. "Me too."

Zuko wrapped both arms around her and sank down into sleep. At the very edge, he thought he heard Katara say something. But he was too far gone, and his lips would not move.

≅

In the morning, she was gone. He sat up in the dark and pushed aside the curtain only to find her seated at his desk, reading his papers. She sat naked in the chair, bare heels propped on his desk and legs crossed at the ankle. Her hair tumbled down the back of the chair. Papers sat forgotten on the floor.

"These people make a pretty good point," she said, without turning around.

"Good morning to you, too."

"No, I mean it. They've really done their research."

"The Society for Justice in Learning?"

She nodded. "I think they're on to something. The numbers don't lie."

Zuko lay back on the pillows. "That's right, they don't. Which is why I'm going to grant them an audience, and tell them no."

Katara swung her legs down. "No? Why not?"

"There's no money. It's that simple."

Katara waved a hand to encompass the wealth that surrounded them. "You could have fooled me."

"That's petty cash. It's different. It's not real wealth. It's not land or a primary resource like gold or timber. Those are the things that build empires, not lumps of jade sculpture."

"But you couldn't afford that jade without gold."

"True. But this palace hasn't spent any money on renovation since at least my grandmother's time. Neither Azulon nor my father cared about aesthetics, and I spend only on upkeep. What drains this household's budget isn't sculpture, it's food and soap and thread. I dismissed half the staff after Ozai died, just to save the money. Granted, it didn't make them too happy, but…" He shrugged. "I learned how to run a tight ship while I was away."

She smiled. "You were always good with money. Even back then, you always knew how to get the best deal." She pointed at the scroll. "Which is why I know you can move some money in the national budget to build this school!"

Zuko rolled his eyes. "I refuse to discuss this until after breakfast."

"Ooh, good idea. I'm starving."

"You should be. You wore me out."

She giggled. "Guilty as charged. I want eggs."

Zuko already had a caftan tied about his waist when a stray thought occurred to him: "It'll look suspicious if I order a double portion and we both miss breakfast."

Katara raised her eyes from the scroll. "Iroh already knows."

"But Toph and Ling don't. The palace doesn't. My people don't. Yet." He ran a hand through his hair. "We can't go on like this."

She frowned. "If it's that important to you, I'll just go back through the passage."

"Of course it's important to me. It's a matter of honor."

Her frown deepened and she put the scroll on the desk. Her eyes had gone flinty. He resisted the urge to hold a defensive posture. She stood. "Zuko, if you've got a problem with the rest of the world knowing that you like sleeping with a dirty Water Tribe _peasant_, than we need to have a serious talk."

"It's not like that."

"Then what's it like?"

Dear sages, a repeat of his conversation with Iroh. "I thought you didn't want anyone to know," he said. "That afternoon in the garden when I slipped up, you gave me a dirty look. I thought you wanted to keep it…private."

"I do. I don't exactly relish Toph and Ling and Iroh and my _brother_ asking me who I'm sleeping with. But if they do, I'm not going to lie to my family just because you're worried about your precious reputation. We didn't hide anything on that boat, so it's a little bit late now to start trying."

"It's not my reputation I'm worried about, it's yours!"

"Oh, because you're so far above public opinion?"

"No! Because stupid people will call you a gold-digger and a whore and sages know what else! Because this world is full of morons who will stop donating to your orphanage if they find out you're anything less than a perfect, pining widow who can't wait to join Aang in the Spirit World!" He watched her mouth open, then close. She tried to speak but he overran her: "And since you insist on returning there, you'll excuse me for trying to keep the place alive."

Katara's hand rose to cover her mouth. Her eyes had gone wide. "Oh," she said through her fingers. "Oh, Zuko."

"What?"

"You're in love with me."

She made it sound like something terrible, like a grave error in judgment. He looked at the floor. His bare feet seemed oddly disconnected from him, as though it were not really him standing there but someone else. "Do you think I'd be doing this if I wasn't?"

Katara bent down and picked up her shift. She pulled it over herself and hugged her arms. "I don't know, Zuko. That's the thing. I don't know."

"What do you think I am, Katara?" He pressed his fingernails into the palms of his hands. "Do I strike you as the kind of person who takes these things lightly?"

She sighed. "No… I don't know. I don't know how many people you've been with. It's not like you ever answered my letters."

"Because I was afraid of feeling something I had no right to!"

"Even after Aang died?"

"_Especially_ after Aang died! Would you rather I have made a move when you were most vulnerable? Is that the kind of man you want?"

"It didn't stop you on that boat!"

"You said it yourself: you came to me first. I thought it was me you wanted." He gritted his teeth. "Apparently I was wrong."

Her mouth fell open. "Don't say that."

"I think we've moved past the point of you telling me what to do. There are plenty of men up at that temple, and if you were feeling lonely you could have-"

The distance separating them meant that he saw Katara's hand before it connected with his face. He could have stopped it, but chose not to. He felt like saying ugly things. If she wanted to punish him for it, that was her right. She stood trembling before him, her left hand still half-raised. "Don't you ever say that again," she said. "I don't take these things lightly, either."

"You could have fooled me," he said.

She paled down to her lips. "Why, Zuko? Because I _insist_ on fulfilling my responsibilities? Because I'm not ready to give up on the orphanage for some great sex and a man who won't even admit how he feels? I'm sorry, but my commitments mean a little bit more to me than that!"

"Oh, so now that you've got it out of your system, you'll sail away into seclusion." Zuko shook his head. "You said it yourself: it's like holding the ocean in a rain-barrel. You hate it up there. You hate not seeing the sea, you hate not seeing your family, and now you'll hate not having what we had last night in this room."

Katara set her chin and shoulders. "You over-estimate yourself, Fire Lord."

He felt a hollow pit open inside his stomach, but resolutely ignored it. "Maybe," he said in a low voice he barely recognized. "But you ask the woman who wept in my arms. She'll tell you differently."

Zuko stepped away. He made for the washroom. Without shutting the door, he blasted fire up the pneumatic pipes. Water came sluicing down from the strange apparatus the Mechanist had installed as a gift when the war finished. He felt Katara's eyes on him. Refusing to turn, he grabbed the nearest bar of soap. It took a long time, but finally he heard his door shutting.


	11. Chapter 10

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Chapter 10**

**Fandomme**

**Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to heal an epidemic sweeping the Fire Nation.**

**Disclaimer: ATLA belongs to Nickelodeon and Viacom. No profit is made by this story.**

≅

Zuko threw himself into the work of being a Fire Lord. He recognized in himself a remarkable skill for self-deception -- that much had not changed in twelve years -- and used that skill to accomplish his tasks more efficiently. His secretaries skittered all over the palace organizing the details for Sokka and Suki's arrival, answering letters, scheduling diplomatic visits, and reviewing reports from ambassadors and trade guilds and mining camps. At times like this, Zuko thought of the Fire Nation as a person he could learn to understand if he simply read enough. He used each piece of data to assemble a larger picture of the country he'd come to rule. The more he learned, the more detailed that picture became. And focusing on those details meant he had very little time to dwell on the hollow pit slowly expanding from his gut to his heart.

He skipped breakfast, proceeded directly into firebending practice -- his trainers wondered aloud what had happened, where his control had gone and what ferocity had replaced it -- and worked his staff to the bone until a late lunch. Afterward, they worked through until dinner -- which he missed -- and he visited the family hot spring with a bottle of ryu-nyuu and some re-drawn maps.

So it was here that Toph found him, torchlight blocking out the moon's silver rays, sulfurous water steaming around him, and his head fuzzy with alcohol. He watched her pick her way around the pools until she found his. Without asking, she dropped to the ground and stuck her dirty feet into the water near his shoulder.

"So," she said, "you wanna talk about it?"

He grabbed the dragon-shaped bottle of ryu-nyuu and took a swig. It was his father's private reserve. Zuko had yet to commission a batch for himself. Most Fire Lords did not do so until their betrothal. The liquor had a tingling sweetness like fermented milk with a spicy wash that caused his eyes to water. He sighed and fire appeared at his lips.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Quit lying, Sparky."

"Which _it_ would you like to talk about, Toph? The fact that my country has no money? The fact that a _simple mistake_ caused the deaths of who knows how many innocent vill-"

"You and Katara," Toph said, kicking the water. "You two aren't sleeping together any more."

Zuko almost laughed. _That's what you get for trying to deceive the Blind Bandit, Zu-Zu._ "What ever gave you that impression?"

"You smell different. For the past few days, you've smelled the same. You used the same soap." She nudged him with one toe. "You're not too good at this whole secret affair thing, are you?"

Zuko sank down into the water. "It's none of your business."

"I can feel your heartbeat, you know."

"Well it's lucky you can't read my thoughts, then."

Toph grabbed the ryu-nyuu and took a sip. She winced and coughed. "I forgot how strong that stuff is," she said. She cleared her throat. "I don't have to read your thoughts, Sparky. I know what you're thinking already."

"Then why are you here?"

Toph tilted her head. "That's a good point. You're being a jerk. Ling's waiting for me, and she'll make it worth my while if I hurry."

"So maybe you should just go."

Toph snorted. "Too bad I already promised Ling I'd stay." She took another drink, pounded her chest, and coughed. "At least until you get out of that water and quit feeling sorry for yourself."

"I don't plan my evenings around dirty earthbenders."

With unerring accuracy, Toph withdrew one dripping foot and kicked the back of Zuko's head. His vision blurred as she did. _Must have drank more than I thought._ "Shut up, Sparky. I'm doing the best I can. You're lucky I don't just bend you out of this pool and send you flying."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Don't tempt me, Fire Lord. I'll kick your royal butt if I want to." She rested one foot on his shoulder. "I've never been good at motivational speeches. And I've been running short on inspiration since Aang died."

Something pricked at Zuko's eyes and he blinked it away. "I understand."

"You said some really beautiful things, that day. When you eulogized him, I mean."

"I didn't do him justice."

"None of us did, Sparky." Toph handed him the bottle and Zuko took a swig. "I don't know why it's still so hard," she was saying. "I still keep expecting to hear his footsteps."

"It was only two years ago. Two years isn't very long."

"It is when you're mourning." Toph leaned over and rested her elbows on her knees. She brought both feet back into the water and drummed her heels along the basalt of the pool. "I'd been in love with Ling for a long time, you know? But I didn't do anything about it until after Aang died." She shrugged. "Life's too short."

Zuko turned to her. Toph's long bangs hid her sightless eyes. He thought he saw a faint blush, but it may have been the firelight or the steam. "I can't be with Katara," he said.

"But you love her."

The pit inside him widened a little. "She doesn't love me."

"Then she's stupid. But she's always been stupid. You loved her back then and she had no idea. That's pretty dumb, if you ask me."

Zuko splashed water over his tingling face. It helped the conversation seem more real. "You knew?"

"Of course I knew. I'm a blind earthbender, not a complete moron. You sent out enough vibrations to scare away half the cave-hoppers in the area."

Zuko resisted the urge to sink even further into the water. Instead, he took another drink, then sent a blast of fire away from his mouth. "I suppose I should thank you for not saying anything."

"Don't bother. I would have held it over you sooner or later." She took the bottle from him and drank. "So what happened this time?"

"Which time?"

"This time. Last time she married Aang. What was it this time?"

It was on the tip of his tongue to explain it all. But then he remembered Katara's naked body sitting in his chair, the utterly comfortable and intimate way she'd sprawled over his furniture, and his lips clamped shut. "It's private."

"Must be. Your heart's leaping around like a rabbaroo."

"None of it matters now. It's over. We're done."

"Oh yeah. There's the Zuko we all know and love. The guy who has no trouble letting go."

Zuko turned in the water. "I don't have to explain myself to you. This isn't your business. It's _over._ There's nothing more for you to worry about. I won't be defiling your precious Sugar Queen any longer."

Toph sighed and disturbed her bangs. She shook her head. "I hate to say it, Sparky, but Katara's needed a good defiling for years now."

Zuko blinked. He sat up in the water and reached for a towel. "We're not having this conversation."

"What? I'm no girly-girl, but I know what girls like." She winked.

Zuko stood up and toweled off. "I refuse to discuss this with the little girl I taught to swim."

"Come on, you and Azula never had any midnight chats about Mai?"

Fire streamed from his mouth: "Leave Mai out of it!"

Despite the proximity of flames to her hair, Toph's face remained impassive. "So. You're still all worked up about that, huh?"

Zuko climbed out of the hot spring and pulled on a caftan. He picked up the bottle. "We're leaving."

"Must be tough, having all the women in your life just die on you like that."

He balled his fists. He took deep breaths to master himself. Toph continued to face away from him. At this range, he could hit her or kick her or aim some fire her way, and she wouldn't be able to protect herself. In the twelve years since the war he had not truly looked at her -- not at the yearly war memorial gathering or any of the festivals or dinners Iroh invited her to -- and for the first time, he saw age in her face. Her posture and bearing were the same as those of the child he once knew: graceless, intractable, unyielding. But now he saw the first lines under her eyes. His own age washed over him and with it Katara's words and all that had happened between them.

_Stop being a child. You're not a prince, you're a Fire Lord. Your life is no longer your own. _He straightened and squared his shoulders. The ryu-nyuu in his belly kept his brow sweating. "I'm going to bed."

"See you tomorrow, Sparky."

He had already begun walking. "No, you won't. I have an audience tomorrow."

≅

The Society for Justice in Learning made several good points. They took great pains to explain each of their charts and graphs so that even the simplest child could understand their import. They read testimonials aloud from parents and children who pleaded for schools and training facilities. They drew a line from the war to the recession to the population boom to the current crime rate. They drew it so clearly that Zuko felt like crawling into a hole when he realized that he still needed to reject the Society's proposal.

Then Katara entered the room, and things got worse.

"So what you're saying is that there are now more Fire Nation boys than ever before, and that even though the Fire Nation Academy for Girls is still in working order, male firebenders don't have somewhere to train?"

The Society representative, a courtly gentleman named Yun-Zi with an elegant walking stick, smiled at Katara. "Yes, my Lady. That is exactly what I am saying."

"And these kids, instead of attending school, they're just sitting around playing Hide And Explode?"

"The schools are overloaded, my Lady. For the past one hundred years, boys above the age of fourteen were sent for military training. With the cuts in defense spending, we now have no infrastructure to handle the sudden arrival of so many leftover boys."

Zuko pointedly ignored Katara. His mind had the strangest habit of undressing her. "The war is over, and the Fire Nation has no further need to tax its people into poverty so that our sons can be forged into weapons," Zuko said, directing his gaze at Yun-Zi. "Those cuts in military spending allow our people to keep more of the money they work so hard to earn. Would you prefer I re-introduce the taxes?"

"Yes," Yun-Zi answered, blinking. He nodded and lifted his walking stick to tap it on the floor. It made a dry, ringing sound on the marble. "Of course, I would prefer the money be directed to education, but I consider it no great sacrifice to reach into my pockets and give the children of my nation the means with which to better themselves." He arched one white eyebrow. "Perhaps others in this nation think differently."

"Others who are idiots, you mean," Katara said under her breath.

Zuko turned to her. He spoke in an under-tone. "I don't recall summoning you."

"You didn't. Your uncle did. He said you could use some experience in the room."

Zuko said a silent prayer that Yun-Zi and his attendants hadn't heard that. He leaned closer. "Experience?"

Her eyes met his. "In case you've forgotten, I've been running a school for the past few years. I know what these kids need. And Yun-Zi is absolutely right: they need a safe place to learn before they turn into roving bands of thugs." Zuko opened his mouth, but Katara turned away before he could speak. She leaned forward in her seat and looked at Yun-Zi. "How many of the students you surveyed are orphans?"

Yun-Zi sighed. "Too many, my Lady." He shrugged. "Sadly, not enough of them have the means to transport themselves to your orphanage, and the war destroyed their extended families. Many of them begin working for a living before they're twelve."

_So did Toph_, said a voice in Zuko's mind that sounded suspiciously like Mai. Zuko dismissed the thought as petty: Toph was special, like Aang or Azula. Toph had grabbed adulthood by the forepaws and refused to let go. Other children -- children who weren't bending prodigies -- likely wanted something different. _He _had wanted something different.

He drew breath to speak. "Nevertheless-"

"I don't _believe_ you," Katara hissed. "How can you say no to a bunch of _orphans?_ All they want is an _education._ What's _wrong_ with you?"

"What's wrong with me is that you're undermining me in front of my people," Zuko said. "I don't need you here. Get out."

Katara flinched. She drew away and stumbled a little moving backward. On his left side, Zuko heard curtains rustle. "Am I interrupting?"

He turned. A slender, lanky boy with silky black hair stood before him. Soft eyes hovered above a chin sharp as an arrowhead. The boy smiled minutely with only one corner of his mouth. A needling pain twisted inside Zuko's chest. For a moment he forgot to breathe.

"Tom-Tom," he said.

"My Lord," Mai's little brother said, beginning to bow.

"Get up," Zuko said, and left the dais. "You don't have to bow to me."

"But I'm a supplicant," Tom-Tom said as Zuko descended the steps. "I'm here with the Society."

Zuko blinked. He gestured at Yun-Zi, who smiled behind his sun-spotted hand. "This Society?"

"I'm in need of a good education," Tom-Tom said. "It seems my parents don't know how to do anything but govern Omashu, and they failed at that twelve years ago."

"Wait," Katara said behind them. Zuko turned and saw her stand. She hurried down the steps. "Your parents were the governors of Omashu back then?"

"My father, my Lady," Tom-Tom said, bowing. Before he could complete the motion, Katara had him in her arms. Tom-Tom patted her back stiffly, staring at Zuko over her shoulder. Zuko shrugged.

Katara pulled away. "I've always wondered what happened to you!"

"My reputation precedes me," Tom-Tom said.

"I know you won't remember me, but I took care of you when you were little," Katara said. "Your parents told you about the penta-pox, right? And how they almost traded King Bumi to the people of the Earth Kingdom just to get you back?"

Tom-Tom rolled his eyes. "Oh, yes. That."

"Well, when you were with those Earth Kingdom rebels, so was I. Well, so were we. The Avatar carried you in his arms, you know."

Tom-Tom blinked. A hint of color showed in his face. "He… He did?"

"Yes. And I looked after you. I fed you and changed you and-"

The boy threw up his hands, his color deepening and his gaze hitting the floor. "Please. Spare me."

Katara embraced him anew. "You sound just like your sister."

"That's…nice," Tom-Tom said, his voice muffled in Katara's shoulder. "Can you let go, now?"

"Oh, right. Sorry." Katara reached out to tidy the boy's hair. Tom-Tom neatly sidestepped her and tidied it himself. He gave Katara one nervous glance before speaking. When he did, his voice carried only a hint of his sister's husky rasp, and the way he held his shoulders told Zuko he spoke from memory:

"I'm here to speak on behalf of students like myself born during the war. Yun-Zi is right. We need a proper education. But like Yun-Zi, I've looked at the numbers. I know the national coffers can't afford an undertaking like this one without re-introducing unpopular taxes and eroding public goodwill, especially when the Fire Lord has made it a priority to fund other projects." His eyes slid over to Katara. _The orphanage. He's going to ask me to-_ "Choose, Fire Lord Zuko. You must choose a new priority. You have supported the Southern Air Temple for long enough. You cannot do so indefinitely at the expense of your own people. The children of the Fire Nation need you." Tom-Tom drew himself to his full height. Like his sister before him, he was tall and thin for his age, all planes and edges. Zuko's heart squeezed. _Don't ask me to do this. _"Will you turn your back on your own people?"

Silence reigned. Zuko felt Katara's eyes on him, heard her indignant breath in her throat. Funny, how she could attack him so fiercely one moment and itch to defend him in the next. "I will never turn my back on people who need me," Zuko said. He swallowed. "That includes the orphans this nation left behind."

To his left, Katara let go of a breath he'd had no idea she was holding. _Did she think I'd discontinue funding because we no longer share a bed? Does she need the money that badly? Who does she think I am?_

"I see you have made your decision," Tom-Tom said, his eyes flicking between them. "Then I must ask you one favor."

"If you want a teacher-"

"I want an Agni Kai."

It was as though the floor had opened beneath him. Zuko looked quickly at Yun-Zi, but the old man shook his head emphatically -- he appeared as surprised as Zuko felt. Zuko's gaze landed on Tom-Tom. _Did I look this way at his age? Did I look this small, when I accepted the challenge?_ Something inside Zuko cracked. "No! I will not!"

"It is my right," Tom-Tom said. His voice sounded too much like Mai's now: too deep, too tired, too bemused by Zuko's failings. "You have denied me that which is rightfully mine. You have insulted my honor by favoring the needs of foreign orphans over mine and the Fire Nation's."

"How dare you?" Katara asked. "Zuko would give _anything_ for his people, you have _no_-"

"You'll forgive me for saying so, my Lady, but you have a vested interest in keeping that orphanage alive," Tom-Tom said, folding his arms. "That money the Fire Lord sends you-"

"Is _my_ money to spend any way I like," Zuko said. "You have no right to tell me how to invest it, Tom-Tom. You're a bright boy and a credit to your family. Mai -- your sister -- would be very proud of you." _And especially proud of how you've outmaneuvered me._ "But if I want to spend my money on…on ruby encrusted monkeys, I will! The money I spend on the Southern Air Temple comes from my private holdings."

"Which are depleted," Tom-Tom said, his half-smile becoming a smirk. "You have nothing left."

Katara's mouth fell open. "Zuko, is that true?"

"Yes," Tom-Tom said.

"No," Zuko said.

Tom-Tom's lip twitched. "You'll never sell your mother's property on the peninsula," he said. "It's the last thing you have left of her."

Zuko moved one hand to cover his eyes. He understood Iroh's meddling. He could have handled Katara's insistence on offering her expertise, Yun-Zi's making him feel like a tyrant for denying his country what was so plainly necessary, and Toph's mocking words echoing through the spicy haze of his post-drink mind. But Tom-Tom appearing in this room and demanding an Agni Kai and reminding him of his every failure and looking just like the heir he might have had if he and Mai had been just a little less careful… _And if Mai had been just a little slower, and if Azula hadn't reached inside her with a hand made of lightning. If you hadn't endangered her. If you hadn't let her die. If you had followed Azula's plan instead._

"Tomorrow," he said. "Dawn."


	12. Chapter 11

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Fandomme**

**Chapter 11**

**Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to heal the victims of an epidemic sweeping the Fire Nation.**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon and VIACOM. No profit is made by this story.**

**Notes: Hey, you lurkers, I want to hear from you! I know you have this story on Favorites and Alerts, but I don't know any of you. And to all my reviewers -- you guys make all this hard work worthwhile. It's so great to hear from all of you. You guys make my day! Thank you!**

≅

Kurzu's scalp had an interesting smell. It was clean, but different from any other smell Zuko knew. _Azula used to smell this way. She was a baby too, once. _He settled Kurzu between his legs for the hundredth time and picked up a piece of bread. Methodically, he tore it into little pieces. Kurzu reached for the bread with tiny, fat fingers and Zuko handed him some.

"I suppose the tainted water killed all the turtleducks in Tetsushi," Zuko said. He tossed crumbs of bread into the water. Kurzu mimicked him. His bread went only a foot or so. The turtleducks emerged from their reeds and paddled over to the edge of the pond. They dunked their sleek heads in search of pulpy crumbs. Kurzu lunged for them, but Zuko held him fast. "No," he said in his most quelling voice. "Be nice."

The child strained and started to fuss. Zuko kept a firm grip on him. Kurzu started to cry and Zuko stood, hoisting the child over one shoulder. "If you won't be nice, I won't bring you out here again," he said. The child buried his head in Zuko's neck and Zuko felt tears smearing across his skin.

"He's tired," Iroh said behind him. "He needs a nap."

Zuko turned. His uncle's brow had beaded with sweat. The old man had obviously hurried here. "He's not the only one."

Iroh sighed. He found the nearest flat stone and lowered himself into it. "Sit."

Zuko resumed his position beside the pond. He stood Kurzu in his arms and let the child lean back and forth, this way and that. It reminded Zuko of Water Tribe ships, the way a mast could list one way or the other depending on waves and winds.

"Tell me you won't go through with this," Iroh said. "Tell me you're not that foolish."

Zuko looked at Kurzu. Currently, the child tracked the progress of toucan-puffs through the sky. His left hand pointed up at the V they made against the clouds. "Tom-Tom challenged me, Uncle."

"And you have absolutely no reason to respond. You're the Fire Lord, not a pipsqueak boy with a score to settle. Your concerns are larger than what a child thinks of you!"

"Tom-Tom's concerns are this country's concerns. I can't ignore them."

"And fighting a child is the best way to acknowledge them? Have you even thought this through? Do you know what this looks like?"

Zuko turned so that his uncle would see the full expanse of his scar. "I know what it looks like."

"Then _why?_ Answer me that, nephew. _Why?_"

Kurzu fell backward a little and Zuko reached to catch him. "Because this isn't about schools or taxes or the orphanage," he said. "It's about Mai."

Iroh swore and growled at the sky. "I should have taken the throne in your place." He pointed at Zuko with a shaking finger. "Mai died years ago. She-"

"She died saving me."

"Better her than you!"

"Be quiet!"

"I will _not!_ Azula attacked you and Mai did exactly what I would have done in her place: she got in the way. She did that because she loved you! Do you honestly think she would have wanted this for you? Her lover and her brother preparing for an Agni Kai that neither can win?"

"I can win," Zuko said. "I _will_ win."

Silence. Iroh hung his head. In a ragged voice he asked: "Do you know who you sound like?"

The hairs on Zuko's neck prickled. He lifted Kurzu in his arms until the child's squirming body obscured the sun. "I won't hurt him, Uncle. I can win without hurting him." _And if I do, Katara will be there._

"Because Katara will be there to heal him."

Zuko winced. He let Kurzu slide through his hands and caught him just before his toes hit the grass. Kurzu laughed. "No. He's a child. He didn't have you as a teacher. He never fought the Avatar or Azula or Katara." Zuko lifted the child again, let him slide, caught him. Kurzu giggled. "He'll tire himself out before I've even lifted a finger."

"This is not what I instructed you for! Years of training _wasted_ on a man who bullies _children_…" Iroh leaned forward. "Zuko, I did everything I could to _avoid_ this, to set you on a different path from the one your father-"

"My father is dust and ashes," Zuko said. "The Avatar scattered them himself."

"Your father is laughing at you, because you have proved yourself his loyal son," Iroh said. Zuko ignored the little shiver that went down his spine. Iroh rose to his feet. "Nephew, please reconsider. You are under no obligation to accept this challenge. There is extremely little precedent for Fire Lords engaging in Agni Kai with men outside their family or their cabinet."

"I'm well aware of the precedent, Uncle."

Iroh sighed heavily. "Where you are going, I cannot help you."

"I know."

≅

Zuko spent the rest of the day quietly. He dismissed his secretaries to larger projects -- he had put off pressuring the Earth Kingdom to buy more Fire Nation-manufactured farm equipment, but the time for that was over now that Toph Bei Fong had taken up residence in his home for an extended period -- and wandered the palace instead. He took Kurzu with him after both men had an impromptu nap. The child liked being carried and was much lighter on Zuko's shoulders than either Toph or Azula had ever been. Zuko gave him the grand tour and let him crawl on antique furniture in the library while he brushed up on Agni Kai etiquette. He brought him to the kitchen and Kurzu ate the pieces of dumpling that Zuko tore open for him. He sensed the eyes of his staff on him, wary and bewildered, surprised at this man who accepted challenges from a long-dead lover's brother and carried a fussy refugee child like a talisman. Zuko brought Kurzu to the palace vault and the child's eyes danced as he generated lightning from his fingers and shot it down the dragon's gaping mouth, triggering the switch behind the intricate golden door so that it swung open with a mighty creak. Zuko recalled a time when he had watched Ozai do this very thing. It must have been at least twenty-five years ago. Until this moment, he had never remembered it.

They stood with the child in a room full of moldering wealth: jade urns, useless jeweled swords, bolts of rotting silks, hardened incense and statuettes of Fire Lords whose names Zuko had forgotten in childhood. The best prizes he had already given to his friends after the final battle: for Sokka a suit of ancient ceremonial armor and accompanying weapons, for Aang the collected works of Avatar Roku in Roku's own hand, for Toph the priceless Earth Kingdom lands long-ago taken from the Bei Fongs in the first Fire Nation surge almost a century ago, for Katara two circlets, one an amethyst the size of a gold piece and the other a golden crescent on a chain of rubies that -- legend had it -- had belonged to the first Painted Lady. He wondered if she had sold either to buy necessaries for the orphanage. He wondered how far his money had gotten them.

"That's my mother's wedding dress," Zuko said to Kurzu. He held the child up high to see the cloth-of-gold on the dressmaker's dummy. The dummy still wore a headdress ringed in tiny rubies. "She must have glowed that day."

He hoisted the child on one arm and crossed to his mother's mostly-empty jewelry-cabinet. It stood beside the wedding dress and featured ornate carvings of a dragon and phoenix. Fumbling with a key he'd retrieved from his room, Zuko opened the cabinet and found the secret drawer beneath the jade eggs lying on silk -- in his youth he'd never guessed what they were for, but he had a better idea now -- and he withdrew the scrolls marked with his mother's insignia: a bear's claw-print. Shrugging, he fit her signet ring on his right hand.

"Mission accomplished," he said. Kurzu reached in vain for the last remaining bauble in his mother's cabinet: a pear-shaped sky opal on a triple-strand of pearls. "Don't even think about it," Zuko said, batting the child's hand away with the scrolls and locking the cabinet.

≅

"Where have you two been? I've been worried sick! Did Kurzu even get his nap? Did you give him his lunch?"

"The vault, I'm sorry, yes, and yes," Zuko said. He set the child on the floor and watched him crawl eagerly to a pile of papers and begin re-arranging them. He suppressed the urge to pull him away. He focused on Katara instead. "What are you doing in my room?"

"I was looking for you! You can't just walk off with a baby and disappear like that!"

"It's my house. I can do what I want."

"Oh, of course. How silly of me not to have remembered! This is _Zuko's_ house. Nothing anyone else wants matters!"

It spoke to the surprisingly relaxing day he'd had -- Kurzu fussed, but accused him of nothing -- that Zuko maintained composure. He arched his good eyebrow and said: "You know I'm perfectly capable of giving you the things you want." He directed his gaze to the bed for emphasis and watched her ears go pink.

"That's not what I meant and you know it, Zuko."

"Then I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific. For instance, I'm about to request some komodo chicken. Would you like some, or do you intend on eating with the moral majority in the dining hall?"

"You're fighting a child!"

"I'll take that as a no."

"You're breaking your uncle's heart all over again. How can you do this?"

Zuko turned away and pulled a silk rope connected to a bell in the kitchen. Without facing her, he said: "I used to be good at this, you know."

Katara sniffed. "What? At scaring everyone?"

"At being nice," he said. "There was a time… You weren't there, but there was a time when I could be the person others wanted me to be. I could smile and laugh and make tea and host sunset dinners. I used to be really good at all that."

"But you're good at those things _now_, Zuko. You're still good at… You can still make people feel…" He heard her struggle for the words. "Don't you think you're already…?"

"No," he said. "Back then it was only pretend. Like playing house. I tried to be Lee and I tried to be Azula's brother and it ate me alive both times." He twisted the rope around one finger. "The only thing I know how to be is…_this._" He turned and looked for Kurzu. The child had crawled toward the washroom and now stared up at the pneumatic pipes, mystified. Zuko stepped over the bed and picked Kurzu up. "No playing in there, you'll hurt yourself."

He looked up to see Katara staring, arms crossed, a single tear rolling down her face. She quickly blinked and wiped it away. "You two look like you're getting along."

"We're both a little slow."

She rolled red-rimmed eyes. "Oh, shut up. Neither of you is slow. You're just…" She sighed. "You're just Fire Nation."

"Ah. That explains it." He lifted one leg and rested it on a chair, balancing Kurzu on his knee. He held the child's hands in a mockery of salute. "Say it, Kurzu: _My life I give to my country. With my hands I fight for Fire Lord Zuko and our forefathers-_"

"Stop," Katara said, and grabbed Kurzu away. "Oh, he's getting heavy…" She bent and set the child down. She leaned against one post of the bed. "Why are you doing this, Zuko?"

"I happen to like komodo chicken."

"The Agni Kai, Zuko. Why are you doing it?"

Zuko kicked off his slippers and climbed onto the bed. He lay back with his hands folded behind his head. "We used to think about adopting Tom-Tom. Did you know that? It was the only part I liked about that time. We used to joke that even two degenerates like us would be better for him than the inept clods that spawned him."

Katara looked at the floor. "By 'we' you mean you and Mai, right?"

He nodded. His throat hurt, suddenly. "We had it all planned out. Azula wanted me on the throne. I didn't want children. Mai hated them. Of course, if we had… If we had made a mistake, miscounted the days, it wouldn't have mattered, I would have done the right thing…"

"You didn't want your own heir?"

"I believe you're familiar with my bloodline." He shrugged. "It doesn't matter, now. Azula killed her." He turned to Katara. "She did it right in front of me. Like you with Aang. You just turn around, and they're gone. Azula made her glow from the inside. Like Aang, in the caves."

Katara sighed and sat down. She picked up Kurzu and cuddled him. "I was so ready to use the water from the oasis on you that day."

"I know. But that doesn't matter now, either. What's done is done." He turned on his side.

A tentative knock sounded on the door. He felt Katara leave the bed to answer it. "We'd like two komodo chicken dinners and some congee, please. And plenty of General Iroh's rosehip tea."

"Yes, my Lady." The door closed.

Her weight settled on the bed again. "Looks like you're stuck with me until dinner."

He squeezed his eyes shut and forced the words out: "That doesn't change anything, though, does it?"

She drew a long, audible breath. "What's done is done."

He nodded. A moment later he felt Kurzu's small hands on his shoulders and he pulled the child over the hill his body made. The child sat on his chubby knees and leaned over Zuko, making a game of crawling back and forth. "Why are you here?" he asked finally.

"Because you need a friend."

"We've never been friends."

"Then maybe we should start." She shifted. "Is what Tom-Tom said true?"

Zuko dug his head into the pillow. "Not entirely. I have some money. Most of it is in my mother's property. She left it to me exclusively. The land wasn't part of her dowry. It came to her when her parents died."

"What kind of property is it?"

"A farm," Zuko said. "It costs more to maintain than it's ever earned. If I sold it to the Bei Fongs or another company, they would turn a better profit. The land is good and I've had several offers."

"But you don't want to sell."

"No. I don't. But I will if I have to."

Katara sighed. "Zuko… You don't have to. The orphanage will always find another way of making money. We're doing fine, really. I don't want you to give up your mother's legacy just to take care of us."

He turned, lifted Kurzu, and set him on the floor. He pointed at Katara's necklace. "If selling that necklace meant buying food for those children, you would do it."

"Of course I would." She touched the stone. She looked away from him. "I have a responsibility to them. I have to give them the kind of life that Aang wanted for them. Aang always had the strength to sacrifice the things he wanted for the good of others. So even if it hurt, even if I really, _really_ didn't want to give something up…" Katara's eyes found his. They held each other's gazes. His hand almost reached for hers, but he held back. She cleared her throat. "I would still have to," she finished.

He directed his gaze at the black silk canopy. "Then you understand why I have to do this."

"No, I don't! I'm not one of your responsibilities, and neither is the orphanage! The others don't-"

"The others don't have the means with which to care for you," he said, still staring at the canopy. "Your brother and his wife have their own children. Your brother and Teo's inventions consistently make money, but they have yet to move to large-scale manufacturing because neither of them have the capital necessary, and your brother refuses to take a loan from either me or the Bei Fongs. And speaking of the Bei Fongs: Earth Kingdom law requires a woman to have borne children in order to inherit property. I doubt that will happen any time soon, so Toph has to remain frugal. I, on the other hand, am the Fire Lord. And so help me if I have to serve tea in Ba Sing Se to feed and clothe the children whose parents my father's armies killed, I will do it."

Katara drew her knees to her chest and hugged them. "You and your stupid honor," she murmured.

"You said it yourself: the Fire Nation took your mother away from you. They did the same to your father. You're an orphan, too. That means you're my responsibility."

"Don't I get a say in this?"

"You get to choose what to do with the money."

He heard her draw breath to speak, but in that moment their meal arrived. Katara busied herself answering the door, and Zuko hid in the washroom cleaning his hands and face. He stared in the mirror and, not for the first time, wondered if he'd kept the scar just to avoid looking Ozai in the face each morning.

They sat quietly through dinner. They spoke to the child and not each other: "Did you like seeing the vault?" "Did you like the dumplings I gave you?" "Here, try a radish, good boy." They pushed the teacups out of the way of Kurzu's grabby little hands and rescued egg custards from his reach. Finally, Zuko said it was time for his meditation.

"I thought you meditated in the morning."

"I do. But tomorrow I will have very little time."

Her head tilted. "Promise me you won't hurt Tom-Tom."

"I won't."

"Promise me you won't hurt yourself."

He leaned over to the child in Katara's arms and kissed his scalp. "Take him to bed. I'll see you tomorrow."

≅

Dawn came and Zuko was there to greet it. He stood in the weak blue light of earliest morning, the tiles of the arena cool under his bare toes. He kept his breath of fire constantly cycling so that his skin would remain warm. He did the boring stretches that his trainers advised. Sunrise exposed the people he'd seen only as distant shadows: his uncle's shape and Katara's and Toph and Ling's. Katara held the child. Zuko saw Yun-Zi file in slowly. With him came the servants who had time to spare, and what few outsiders had the courage to request a seat at the arena. Zuko had not closed the proceedings -- if he was to meet a citizen in Agni Kai, it was only right that other citizens should have the chance to observe. The crowd thickened as the sun crept over the arena. Zuko bounced on his toes and rolled his neck first one way, then the other. It gave a satisfying crunch when he turned his head just sharply enough.

Finally Tom-Tom arrived. The boy looked even scrawnier than Mai had been in her youth. _Surely I had more muscle at his age. Surely I didn't look this pathetic when I entered the arena._ Zuko gave Tom-Tom one moment to take the arena in. The boy searched the stands, found Yun-Zi and Iroh, and smiled. The boy turned to face Zuko. His smile vanished. A moment passed before, as one, they turned away from one another and knelt.

The gong left a shimmer of sound trembling in the air.

Zuko stood and faced Tom-Tom. The boy stood in a defensive posture. Sighing, Zuko assumed the same. He waited. Nothing happened. Across the arena, Tom-Tom shouted: "Aren't you going to attack?"

"You challenged me. It's your move."

Tom-Tom frowned. He looked from side to side. Zuko kept his eyes on him. Apparently making up his mind, Tom-Tom started his long run in Zuko's direction. From the boy's hands came two poorly-formed fire-dao. Zuko allowed him to come close. He counted down in his mind: _almost, almost, almost…there._ He dodged to one side and blasted fire hot enough to send the boy flying head over heels. Tom-Tom crashed to the tiles. He rolled away like a bundle of loose twigs. Scrabbling up, he stared at Zuko and reproduced the twin blades.

"You know, I used to favor the twin blades myself," Zuko said. He wove from side to side as the boy lunged. He let the boy push him back slowly. "Have you ever thought about twin hooks?"

"Fight me!" Tom-Tom shouted.

"Give me a good fight first."

Tom-Tom growled and sent a ball of fire straight for Zuko's chest. Zuko's hands split the flames and streamed them away like water. More jets of flame followed. Zuko stepped away as he blocked them with his hands. He resisted a yawn. _This is worse than fighting Zhao._ Tom-Tom moved clumsily. Worse yet, his attacks were unoriginal. The boy seemed wary of coming too close, so he persisted in shooting ineffectual blasts in Zuko's direction. Finally, Zuko gloved his hands in fire. Spinning his wrists above his head, he quickly formed two whips of flame and let them lick Tom-Tom's feet.

"I used this technique while fighting Lady Katara during the war," he said. "I can't remember which of us invented it first."

He spun and flicked the whips. Tom-Tom fell backward and scuttled across the tiles hands-first. Lazily, Zuko let the whips make broad sweeps that narrowly missed Tom-Tom each time. "It's good for when you don't want to hurt someone."

The boy pointed his feet in the air and flipped over. Knees bent in a crouch, he said: "Stop playing with me! I challenged you to a duel, not a game of Hide and Explode!"

Zuko cast his whips so that they just kissed Tom-Tom's toes. The boy kept hopping up and down to avoid them. Zuko changed his technique and summoned circles of fire that rolled up from the floor. He aimed them for a point directly behind Tom-Tom. They narrowed on the boy before crashing harmlessly against one another. "She made that one up, too."

The boy summoned his blades and made a direct line for Zuko. Zuko made a wave of fire and pushed it at the boy. The boy ducked and continued running. Zuko smiled. He waited until Tom-Tom was at arm's length, and pivoted. He jutted his elbow into the boy's solar plexus. _Funny how the old tricks still work. _Tom-Tom gasped, gagged, and crumpled to the ground. Zuko straightened and waited.

The boy choked and coughed. He dragged himself to his feet. "All you care about is a war you stopped fighting when I was just a baby. You're just as selfish as my parents said you were."

"Well, it's nice to see they haven't stifled you the way they did your sister."

"What do you care?" Tom-Tom looked briefly at the seats where Iroh and the others sat. "You've got your family of heroes now. You don't need anybody else."

And with that the boy slashed and there was a fire blade in his hand and Zuko had to lean backward just to avoid it. He landed on his back. The boy advanced on him. Zuko smirked. "I need loyal subjects." He scissored his legs at Tom-Tom's ankles and the boy fell. Zuko popped back up and stood over him.

"I fought Ozai in this arena," he said. "I have fought my sister and the Avatar and admirals from this nation's navy. I have commanded men who bent fire thin as wire and explosive as a comet. I-"

"Who _cares?_" Tom-Tom rolled backward and stood up. The swords blazed in his hands. "All you ever talk about is how much this country has to change. Did you ever stop to think that it might have been great in the first place?"

_The Fire Nation? Great? The invader, the murderer of an entire people, great? _"What new breed of foolishness is this, Tom-Tom?"

The boy sent a steady stream of fire his way. Quickly, Zuko summoned a penta-pus of fire; he let its legs bat the boy's flames away. "We don't need anyone else! We don't need to give up everything that makes us Fire Nation just to apologize for a war we didn't even start!"

To Zuko's surprise, some in the arena cheered. He frowned and tried to place them. Tom-Tom took advantage of his distraction and sent bolts of fire Zuko's way. Zuko responded by clothing himself in fire. He drew up a wave as though he were straightening a sheet on a futon. He brought it down; the fire snapped in his hands. The blast of heat sent Tom-Tom skidding across the tile. Zuko brushed the fire away with his hands. "I'd give you a lesson on international policy, but if your brain works like your firebending it would be a waste."

"Maybe if you stopped paying off that Water Tribe-"

Zuko moved without thinking. He drew a deep breath and focused. He drew the target in his mind and assumed a Yu Yan posture. Only at the last second did he aim the blast safely up and to the left, where Tom-Tom would merely have to duck to avoid the tail-wind of the mighty arrow of fire he was shooting. The air before him shimmered and his face went hot. He saw the familiar circle of fire and felt the tension rippling down one arm. He let the tension build and build until he had to let it go. The fire coursed away from him like a dragon suddenly let free. Tom-Tom watched in horror as the arrow spiraled toward him -- he dropped flat on the floor. The fire roared upward and dissipated into the early morning sky. Zuko watched it go before mastering his breath.

He stepped closer to Tom-Tom. "I'm not paying anyone off," he said, loud enough for the sound to carry across the arena. "Our traditions are what make this nation great. Looking after a friend's widow -- looking after _family_ -- is one of them. And so is doing right by the children of those we have wronged." He sighed and looked at Tom-Tom. "Your lessons begin tomorrow," he said in a voice only the boy could hear. "Be ready before breakfast."

He turned back to his people. "This duel is over!"

And he left, to the sound of polite applause.


	13. Chapter 12

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Fandomme**

**Chapter 12**

**Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to heal the victims of an epidemic sweeping the Fire Nation.**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon and VIACOM. No profit is made by this story.**

**Notes: Thanks are due to all the lurkers out there who took the time to review last time. Thanks so much! And thanks are also due to all my usual reviewers, who make this whole process so much fun!**

≅

Under the arena, Zuko was greeted by servers carrying steaming hot towels scented with orange blossoms, a fresh cup of tea, and his family: Iroh, Katara carrying Kurzu, Toph, and Ling. Iroh smiled and opened his mouth to say something, but the baby beat him to it: _"Thu-Thu!"_

The hairs on Zuko's scalp rose a little. He wrapped the towel around his neck. "What did he just say?"

Katara smiled. "I think he's trying to say Zu-Zu."

Zuko suppressed a shiver. "Is that so?"

"What a sweet coincidence, that was Azula's first word, too," Iroh said.

"Sweet. Yeah. That's what I was thinking, too," Toph said, folding her arms.

_"Thu-Thu!"_ The child leaned out of Katara's embrace and lunged for Zuko. Zuko make a quick step forward to catch him, and the child's arms went around his neck. Carefully, he took the rest of him: the child's chubby legs moved restlessly against his chest.

"Your sister's first word was your name?" Ling asked.

Zuko nodded. He bounced Kurzu to establish a better grip. _"Thu-Thu,"_ Kurzu said, and butted his head under Zuko's chin like a clumsy pygmy puma. Something in Zuko cracked like an ostrich egg. Its warm, golden insides dribbled down within his heart. His arms tightened on the child. Zuko smiled and rested his chin over Kurzu's head. He frowned, pressed his lips to the child's forehead, and looked at Katara. "Does he feel warm to you?"

Katara's brows furrowed. "What, still? I thought…" She reached out to touch Kurzu's head, and Zuko leaned forward to give her better access. They stood together with the child between them. She made an irritated noise in the back of her throat. Breathing deeply, she uncorked her waterskin and gloved her hand in water. Blue light glowed briefly from her hand. A moment later, the child felt cooler.

"He must be teething," she said. "Babies get feverish when they're cutting new teeth."

"Lu Ten certainly did," Iroh said. He patted Katara's shoulder. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. He'll feel better after some breakfast. Making new teeth requires lots of energy." He began ushering them toward the dining hall.

Katara turned back and looked at Kurzu. "But I cooled him down just a little while ago," she said.

"Fevers cleanse the body," Iroh said, taking Katara's elbow. "Perhaps Kurzu just has a little bug."

"But yesterday he only spent time with me and Katara and his nanny," Zuko said. "Katara, is the na-"

"No," she said. "She isn't."

"Then how-"

"I don't know!"

Iroh turned with his arms folded. "Zuko. Children become sick for a variety of reasons. Often, it seems like a complete mystery. But the simplest answer is that they spend most of the day crawling on the floor picking up things they shouldn't and stuffing them in their mouths. You were no different. I once lost my finest pair of slippers to you."

Toph cackled. "Sparky chewed slippers?"

"Oh my, yes."

Ling giggled behind her hand. Katara smiled, but she was still gazing over her shoulder at Kurzu. The smile did not reach her eyes. Zuko bounced the child again. He prized Kurzu's mouth open with a finger. "_Are _you teething?"

Iroh raised his hands skyward. "Hopeless," he said. "I will order the cook to drizzle some common sense over your fruit this morning."

≅

Zuko had very little chance to eat his breakfast, however, between Tom-Tom's glares across the table, Kurzu's persistent squalling, and Katara's constant fussing. Zuko had barely got a clean shirt on before the child vomited the small amount of food he'd allowed them to feed him all over it. Then he shrieked and tried to twist away when Katara attempted to bend water over them both, which resulted in both Kurzu and Zuko covered in dirty water.

"It's just not your day, is it?" Tom-Tom asked, his delight evident.

"I wasn't the one who was beaten so soundly in the arena," Zuko said, mopping his face with a napkin.

Katara flicked his ear. "Don't be a bad winner," she said.

Iroh sighed happily. "I cannot wait for Lady Katara's brother and sister-in-law and their children to arrive."

Zuko barely restrained a groan. Things were stressful enough with one child around. He didn't need three -- no, it was four, three girls and a boy, he remembered now -- of Sokka's little monsters running rampant through his house. He imagined them tearing down the halls armed with miniature boomerangs and swords and fans, their faces alternating between Kyoshi warrior paint and toothy battle masks. He pictured them shredding the portraits of past Fire Lords. _Dear sages, give me patience._

"Don't worry," Katara said, as though he'd spoken aloud. "They're older than you remember. Senzo's just a little younger than Tom-Tom."

Zuko frowned. "That's impossible. Tom-Tom is fourteen. Suki-"

"-had Senzo right after the war was finished, twelve years ago," Katara said. "He's almost the same age Toph was when you first met her."

Toph coughed. "Way to make us all feel old, Katara."

"Zuko is going to turn thirty this year," Iroh said. "Does that help?"

"Sparky's turning _thirty?_ Wow. I'd better buy him an ear-horn. _Can you hear me over there, Fire Lord Zuko? Do you need me talk a little LOUDER?"_

In his lap, Kurzu squealed. Zuko glanced down at himself, covered in water and vomit. Then he looked across the table at Tom-Tom, whose mouth had fallen open. "Welcome to the privileged life of a Fire Lord," he said. He handed Kurzu over to Katara. "You take him. I have to get to work." He stood, stretched, and leaned down over Katara's shoulder to kiss the one clean spot on Kurzu's head. "Be good." He turned to Katara. He had the oddest urge to run his tongue along the delicate curve of her ear. "That goes for both of you," he said in an under-tone.

Across the table, Tom-Tom and Toph snorted in unison. Zuko smiled and straightened. "Lady Katara, will you please consider giving Tom-Tom a lesson this afternoon? I think he could use some experience sparring a waterbender."

"What a wonderful idea!" Iroh said, clapping his hands together dryly. "Your experiences with Lady Katara on the battlefield greatly increased your skill!"

"I taught him everything he knows," Katara said, patting Zuko's hand.

Zuko's lips twitched. He looked at Katara and nodded to Tom-Tom. "Be gentle. It's his first time."

"I'll try not to tie him to a tree."

Zuko arched an eyebrow at her and reached for Kurzu again. He felt the child's forehead with the backs of two fingers. "He's hot again." He rested his palm on the child's head. "See you at lunch."

≅

But Zuko had no time for lunch, or anything else. After hours spent reading expense reports from the Fire Navy, as well as a polite letter from the Earth Kingdom ministry of agriculture telling him that no, they were not interested in Fire Nation-manufactured farm equipment, one of his secretaries informed him that a team of provincial border guards from near Tetsushi had arrived. They had disturbing news.

"My Lord," the superior officer said upon rising from her bow. She was a tall, broad-shouldered woman named Yu-Ji. Neither she nor the other two officers in her company had bothered to tidy themselves; they wore travel uniforms still stiff with the dust of the road and their hair had gone stringy with sweat and oil. "We bring news of Tizo, the overseer."

Zuko leaned his elbows on his desk and leaned forward. "Yes?"

"My Lord, we have reason to believe he is back in Tetsushi."

He enlaced his fingers tightly. "There are wanted posters for this man all over this nation. Why have you not returned him to me?"

Yu-Ji swallowed. "My Lord, he is being held by the remaining survivors of Ozai's-" Yu-Ji faltered before correcting herself. She stood a little straighter. "Of the illness, My Lord. Some of them have returned to Tetsushi. We checked them through a border crossing last week. They had a man with them who met Tizo's description."

Zuko felt jaw go stiff. "And _why_ did you not apprehend him?"

Yu-Ji took a deep breath. "His papers were good, my Lord. And it was clear that he needed medical attention. The man's likeness to Tizo was only passing, due to the damage to his face." Yu-Ji pointedly looked away from Zuko's left eye and continued. "The men coming through with him said they were taking him to an apothecary. We thought his appearance and behavior were a consequence of the illness." She cleared her throat. "We now believe that he was simply the victim of grievous injury."

"Injury," Zuko said.

"We think the survivors had taken out their frustrations on him, my Lord. And we have reason to believe that they have returned him to Tetsushi to continue…punishing him."

Zuko nodded slowly. He rose from his desk, folded his hands behind his back, and stared at the map of the Fire Nation. As they had before had ever traveled there, his eyes drifted to the point on the map signifying the tiny town of Tetsushi. Then they took in the whole of the country: the mountains like scars across the land, the bays that looked like a dragon had taken bites from the earth. His country was such a strange place, so small and yet so vast, so concentrated but so diverse. "Why was I not informed of this development?"

Behind him, he heard Yu-Ji turn. "That is another problem, my Lord. We sent two dragon-hawks as soon as we let him through our crossing. We assumed you would want to know. But neither of the hawks returned. That is why we came here to tell you personally, and to request instructions." She took a deep breath. "My Lord, are you aware of any plots against you?"

Zuko thought of the cheers that Tom-Tom's comments had incited in the arena, and his guts went cold. He turned and regarded Yu-Ji and her two men. "Why would you assume a plot against me?"

She looked at the floor. "No specific reason, my Lord, only that if someone were plotting against you, they might be intercepting your communications."

Zuko nodded. "But only poor plotters would make the same mistake twice. If someone did intercept your dragon-hawks, they failed in their larger goal by drawing your attention to them."

"That's true, my Lord." Her face came up. "But, if it were practice… Or if someone wanted access to the royal dragon hawks to make their own messages appear as though they had come from the palace…"

Zuko's head tilted. "You have a very clever mind for a simple border guard, Yu-Ji."

She pursed her lips. "I also have a criminal record, my Lord. This is as high as I can rise within the ranks."

"I see." He resumed his seat at the desk. "You came to request instruction."

Yu-Ji turned to face him again. "Yes, my Lord. We have no desire to take on the remains of a dying village to save one murderer's life."

"Your desires are not my concern, officer," Zuko said. "I issued an order."

"Then I humbly ask that we may have re-enforcements," Yu-Ji said, casting her gaze toward the floor once again. "We will resolve this issue with a minimum of conflict if we have numbers on our side."

He rested his elbows on the desk. "Why should I give you more men if you're uncertain he's Tizo?"

"Even if he is not, it's possible that the villagers we saw are still victimizing him," Yu-Ji said. "Even if the man himself is not a criminal, what has befallen him is."

Zuko rose. "Thank you, Yu-Ji, for reminding me all over again why I love this country." He nodded the door. "Take some of the men I took with me to Tetsushi. They are familiar with the terrain and its people. They can best assist you."

He watched them leave. And then he collapsed into his chair, and covered his eyes with his hands.

≅

Katara was not at dinner. It irritated him; seeing her and not being able to touch her was still like catching one of Mai's needles in the heart but at least her voice still filled his house. And they had not truly fought since that one disastrous morning. If anything, they were more civil with one another now. Kurzu helped. He smiled, thinking of the child, and searched the dining hall again. Neither of them was there. He glanced at Tom-Tom, who was trying unsuccessfully to inconspicuously eat around his vegetables.

"How was your match with Lady Katara this afternoon?"

Tom-Tom picked up a piece of fish. "It never happened," he said. "She didn't come."

"Perhaps she was waiting for you to invite her," Iroh said.

"I did!"

"Easy there, buddy," Toph said. "I can feel your vibrations in my chair. Calm down."

"I invited her and she said no! She's too busy with that baby. Is it true that-"

"Too busy?" Zuko asked. "What do you mean, too busy? Kurzu has a nanny."

"Well I guess the nanny isn't good enough for the Avatar's waterbender."

"Don't call her that, Tom-Tom," Zuko said. "I won't tell you a second time. What did Katara say?"

"She said she was sorry, but that she had to monitor Kurzu." The boy shrugged his thin shoulders. "You know, in case something changed."

Zuko dropped his chopsticks as his voice rose. "In case _what_ changed, Tom-Tom?"

Tom-Tom squirmed a little in his chair. "I don't know… She said something about bloodbending. I guess Kurzu isn't feeling any better."

"And I'm learning about this _now?_" Zuko pushed away from the table. "Does it ever occur to anyone that _I _am the Fire Lord, and that _perhaps_ I should know what goes on _in my own house?_" He strode toward the door.

Iroh stood quickly. "Nephew, Tom-Tom didn't know…" He placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder. "He didn't know that you cared."

"Well then alert the palace messengers: Fire Lord Zuko cares about the people of his country." He pushed past the door, leaving stunned silence behind him.

≅

The nursery staff gave him a shared fearful glance as they watched him enter. Zuko hurried in and found Katara sitting alone on a small bed watching Kurzu. Only a single lamp was lit. Scrolls lay abandoned on the floor beside her. The child seemed to sleep, so Zuko made his footsteps so soundless that his appearance startled Katara: she jerked when his fingers landed on her shoulder.

"You scared me," she whispered.

"I'm sorry."

To his surprise, she reached up to hold his hand. Her voice came out thin and ragged: "His fever is worse."

Zuko moved to sit on the other side of the bed with one leg tucked under him. Their shoulders touched. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought I could make him better."

"There's a palace phys-"

"I've seen the physician, Zuko. I've been talking his ear off all day. He's as mystified as I am." She lifted one hand and gestured at half-empty bottles and untouched food and cold teacups. "We've given Kurzu everything: the right infusions, the right poultices. His fever just keeps on climbing. The only thing that helps is if I cool him down a little with bloodbending. But that can't be good for his organs over the long term. Constantly switching body temperature is too much of a shock to a child's system. If he were older it wouldn't bother me, but he's still only a baby, and he's so _small_…" She placed one tentative hand on the child's foot. "He's so little, Zuko. I mean I knew that the Fire Nation was in trouble but even my orphans aren't this small, and the mothers that I do see aren't as thin as Su-Lin was...I had no idea things were this rough for you over here, I didn't know…" Her voice grew smaller and smaller.

"How would you have? You had your own concerns."

"I've been taking money from you, and you've been selling off your own things, and your people have been starving." She turned to him and he saw tears brimming in her eyes. "How can I forgive myself for that?"

He took a deep breath and reached for her hand. His fingers covered hers, barely touching. "There's nothing to forgive."

Katara closed her eyes and shook her head. "You impossible man." She took his hand and squeezed it. "How come our paths always cross when the whole world seems to be changing, huh? Can't we ever just have some normal time together?"

"The spirits ruled out normal lives for us a hundred years before we were even born, Katara." He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb and tried to ignore the deliciously light feeling unfolding in his chest. "I have a question to ask."

She frowned and looked at their hands together. "What kind of question?"

"Not that kind." He looked at Kurzu. "Assuming he gets better, what would you do if I told you it wasn't safe here any longer?"

Her frown only deepened. "What do you mean?" Her hand pulled away. "Do you want me to leave? Because if you do, I understand, this can't be easy for you, I just-"

"That's not it." He looked at the map of the Fire Nation high above their heads before meeting her eyes. "I spoke with border guards this afternoon who suggested that someone might be intercepting my communications."

Her eyes widened. "But Sokka and Suki are on their way, they'll know they're coming-"

_I hadn't even thought of that. The Fire Lord, the Bloodbender, her brother, a Kyoshi warrior, Toph, my uncle, all in the same house… If there's a plot… Dear sages, let me be wrong. _"I can send out scouts," Zuko said. "They can come in safely. But after that, I want you to be prepared to leave."

"Leave? Are you crazy? We can't just leave you here!"

Beside them, Kurzu stirred. Katara clamped her lips shut, but her eyes bore into Zuko's. He stared back at her. "You're the one who has responsibilities outside of the Fire Nation," he said. "I don't think I have to remind you of that, since you were so eager to remember them before."

Her eyes flared. "Don't even start with me, Zuko-"

"I'll start with you whenever I feel like it. If I find out that there is a conspiracy against me, I will drag you out of this country myself."

"And I'll come right back in and-"

Zuko reached over and covered her mouth with a thumb. His fingers went into her hair. "No," he said. "You won't."

Gently, she pried his palm away from her face and held it between her two hands. "This isn't a decision you get to make for me, Zuko."

"Katara, our families did not fight and bleed twelve years ago just so that you could risk dying on Fire Nation soil all over again. I already have enough to answer for when I see Aang in the Spirit World. I don't need your father's judgment on my head as well."

She hung her head. "Doesn't being so old-fashioned tire you out, sometimes?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but Kurzu squirmed and began to cry. Katara deflated. She reached for him, but Zuko moved faster. "I'll take him. You lie down." Zuko picked up Kurzu carefully -- he was disturbingly warm -- and reached for a cold compress. He sponged it across the child's forehead. "You see, I'm very modern."

Katara lay down on her side. "Oh yeah. You're a real trailblazer." She yawned. "You do know that Sokka does this kind of thing all the time, right? Sokka, who used to say that mending and laundry were women's work?"

"Sokka was always a quick learner." Zuko put the compress down in a bowl of water. He bounced Kurzu a little, who only cried louder. "Do you think he's hungry?"

"He should be. He hasn't kept anything down for hours." Katara rolled over and held her hand over a small covered bowl on a stand near the bed. Zuko watched a layer of frost develop over it. "There. I chilled that down a little while ago, but you can't be too careful." She curled into a little ball. "You should take that jacket off. Juice-vomit is the last thing you want all over it."

"Good idea." Zuko lay the child down and began unbuttoning his jacket. Behind him, he heard the soft whisper of doors sliding open. He turned and Iroh stood there with his hands in his sleeves.

"How is he?"

Zuko shook his head. He discarded his jacket. "Not good." He picked up Kurzu and held him on one arm while reaching for the bowl of juice with the other. The child buried his face in Zuko's neck and continued squalling. Iroh guided him to a chair away from the bed and sat down on a footstool nearby. "His fever just won't break," Zuko said as he sat. "Katara says it's getting worse."

Despite the darkness, Zuko saw his uncle's expression cloud over. "And the palace physician can do nothing?"

"No. Katara says they've tried everything."

Iroh reached over and felt Kurzu's forehead. He hissed and shook his head. "He's burning up."

"I know. The only thing that helps is bloodbending, but Katara doesn't want to keep shocking his system that way."

"And it doesn't get at the root cause of the illness," Iroh said. "Do you have any idea what could have done this? You were with him yesterday."

"We fed the turtleducks and I took him to the library. Then we went to the kitchen and down to the vault. I didn't let him touch anything he shouldn't. Then Katara and I had dinner with him, we played together for a while, and Katara took him to bed. That was all. He wasn't out of my sight for a minute." Zuko propped Kurzu up and uncovered the bowl of juice. He lifted it to the child's lips. Juice sloshed everywhere when Kurzu turned away from it. Sighing, Zuko put the bowl down. "What did I do wrong?"

"You held the bowl at too steep an angle."

Zuko gave his uncle a murderous look. Iroh sighed. "You've done nothing wrong, Zuko. Children become ill. There is nothing you can do to prevent it. Someday you will become a father and learn this for yourself." His head tilted. "If you haven't already, of course."

Zuko wiped Kurzu's chin and neck. The child began chewing the kerchief he'd used. That quieted him a little. "Things were going so well," he said. "On the ship, he was so good…" Zuko shrugged. "It doesn't matter now. Katara's taking him to the orphanage soon."

Iroh hunched forward with his elbows on his knees. "That doesn't sound like the Zuko I know."

"I can't change her mind. I don't want to." Zuko ran a thumb over Kurzu's eyebrows. His little face was red with feverish, angry crying. He chewed the kerchief as though it had wronged him somehow. "Have you been receiving messages on time?"

Iroh shrugged. "There are the usual delays, of course, but…" His gaze sharpened. "Why do you ask?"

"I spoke with a border guard today who suggested that palace communications may be compromised."

Iroh closed his eyes and hung his head. "We have had twelve years of good fortune. I suppose it was too much to ask for more."

"If there is a plot, I have to get Katara and her family out of here."

Iroh shook his head. His thin, white hair drifted from side to side. For the first time, Zuko noticed the sunspots on his bald head. It made him feel old suddenly -- was he really turning thirty this year? Hadn't Ozai already married and brought him into the world by the time he was thirty? "They won't go," Iroh was saying. "You know them. Toph will dig in her heels and refuse to leave, and Sokka won't let her stay alone with us. And Katara…" Iroh shook his head again. "Oh, nephew, you really know how to get yourself into trouble."

Zuko eyed Katara. She seemed to be asleep. Her breath sucked a strand of hair toward her mouth, then away, and back again. "She'll leave for the child. She has to."

Iroh moved so that he caught Zuko's eye. "Love is very strange, nephew. It makes us do wonderful, terrible things."

"This isn't about love. This is about getting them out of here before everything falls apart." Zuko settled Kurzu a little higher and reached for the juice again. "How do I hold this?"

"Well, first you get the kerchief out of his mouth. There we go. And here, just hold your elbow like so…" Iroh adjusted Zuko's posture. It felt like those times he had corrected his form during firebending lessons, only somehow more embarrassing. The old man held his elbow with one hand and the child's chin with the other. Kurzu began drinking greedily and he offered a glowing smile. "That's much better."

"Thanks." Zuko frowned. "How do I know if he's had enough?"

"He'll let you know. Don't worry." Iroh stood. "He'll need to be changed. Do you want me to stay?"

"No. That I know how to do."

Iroh's bushy eyebrows lifted. "You do?"

"Katara taught me on the ship. She had to. He slept in the bed with us, you know." Zuko frowned. "Why are you looking at me that way?"

Iroh blinked. "I just never imagined…" He smiled ruefully. "What about when you returned?"

Zuko thought of Katara, himself, and Kurzu in the bathtub and felt his good ear go hot. "We looked after him. That's all you need to know."

"I didn't know it was like that, nephew."

"Like what?

"A family," Iroh said. "I misjudged you."

Just then Kurzu started spitting up, so Zuko had to move quickly. He threw the kerchief over one shoulder and shifted the child so that he rested there. He stood and began bouncing on his toes the way he'd seen Katara do. Iroh's eyes burned little holes in his shoulders. "Stop staring at me, Uncle."

"I'm not staring. I'm savoring this moment."

"Spare me." Zuko continued bouncing. He watched Iroh smile brightly before turning to leave. "And don't get any ideas!"

"Perish the thought," Iroh said, and left the room.

Zuko rested his face against Kurzu's hot one. He bounced his way to the bowl of water and squeezed out the compress with one hand. "Please excuse my uncle. He's cursed with a pernicious case of optimism."

_"Thu-Thu,"_ Kurzu said miserably, and coughed up some juice.

≅

Far away, someone shouted. Zuko was aware of a deep and abiding pain between his neck and left shoulder. Without opening his eyes, he tried to discern what might have caused it. Then the smell got to him: sour juice and baby shit. His stomach lurched and his eyes opened. He lay on his left side on a bed meant for two children at most. Katara lay on the other side. Their bodies formed two walls that penned in Kurzu. Their shins pressed together. Katara blinked awake. She smiled weakly. He did the same. He looked down at Kurzu. She pressed her hand to the child's forehead. Zuko watched a smile unfurl across her face. A sigh drained out of him. _Thank the sages. _His limbs went heavy with relief. Katara reached over and rubbed his arm. Somewhere, something pounded down the hall. It sounded like a huge animal.

"What's that noise?" she whispered.

Zuko's blood chilled. Could those plotting against him have moved so quickly? He moved to cover her and Kurzu. As he did, the doors slammed open and a dark, bearded man carrying a sword burst into the room. He pointed. "I _knew_ it!" he shouted. "The rumors _are_ true!"

Katara's palm met her forehead. She sat up. "Hi, Sokka."


	14. Chapter 13

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Fandomme**

**Chapter 13**

**Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to heal the victims of an epidemic sweeping the Fire Nation.**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon and VIACOM. No profit is made by this story.**

**Notes: First, I want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed. You guys make everything worthwhile. Please review! Second, I want to clear some things up. After some people watched "The Puppetmaster" I received a few reviews here asking me how I "knew" about bloodbending. I want to make it very plain that I did not "know." I had no inside information, and no spoilers. I don't even keep up on Nick Magazine or interviews with Mike and Bryan. I guessed. The fact is that the human body is 70 water, and Katara is a healing waterbender. It's a hop, skip, and a jump from bending water to bending the blood within the human body. So lucky me, I made a good guess!**

**Also, this story has its first piece of fan-art! Blue Moraine Sedai (uchihafanz at DeviantArt) has drawn a very sweet picture of Zuko and Katara from Chapter 9. So go check it out! And keep those pictures coming!**

**Once again, please review. It's good for the soul. There's lots of you lurking about, and I want to know what you think!**

**PS: My good buddy Misora has a great new fic out called **_**Lotus Resiliens.**_** Misora is a rock star. You should go read her story.**

≅

Zuko was aware of two things.

The first was Sokka's drawn sword -- the gleaming black length of it, the way it whispered out of the scabbard -- and Sokka's knuckles tight on the hilt. His heart thudded in his chest. _He came in with his sword drawn. He came in with his sword drawn while Katara and Kurzu were barely awake. _Sokka stared at him in a way he hadn't since that day at the South Pole when they were all mere children. Fury and disappointment vied for prominence on his bearded face. His eyes seemed to spit hate.

The second was his distant, tangential understanding of how it all must look: he and Katara on the cramped bed together, the child between them -- _like it used to be, like it always should be --_ and Katara sitting without any shame, simply exhaustion and annoyance. Sokka's fingers re-gripped the sword. Zuko focused on it. If Sokka moved, could he bend in time? Would Sokka hurt Zuko first, or try to pry Katara away? Blood rushed in his ears. He held himself tight. _One bad thrust and he could have killed them. He drew his sword on us. Hold back. Great sages, let me hold back._

"Sokka!" Suki stood in the doorway with a little girl on one arm. She marched forward. Three other children followed her. "Dad!"

Sokka seemed to recover himself. The sword fell a little and he straightened. Zuko clenched his hands to keep them from shaking. _You're paranoid. He would never hurt them. You, but not them. _Someone was calling his name. He turned and there was his uncle, belting a caftan about his ample middle. Zuko let go of a breath he hadn't known he was holding. Toph and Ling slid into the room just behind Iroh.

"Whoa," Toph said, blinking her sightless eyes. "Both of you guys need to relax."

"Aunt Toph!" The child in Suki's arms leaned forward, and Suki put her down. She ran to Toph and clutched her about the shin.

Something pounded down the hallway. Zuko turned to the door and there was Tom-Tom wearing leather armor over a thin, bare chest and sleeping pants, and carrying hook in either hand. "Put it down!" Tom-Tom pointed the hooks clumsily at Sokka.

Sokka frowned at his sister. "Who's this?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Put it down!" Tom-Tom's voice cracked. "Put the sword down right now!"

Sokka's beard twitched. "Kid, I don't know who you think you are but-"

"You drew your sword on the Fire Lord," Tom-Tom said, swallowing. He shook a little. "I know exactly who you are, and I know you can't bend. So put that sword down, or I'll make you drop it."

The eldest boy in Suki's little parade of turtleducks stepped forward. "Dad-"

"Stay out of it, Senzo."

"Son," Iroh said, holding up his hands. "I can assure you that Sokka didn't mean to threaten my nephew. The two of them have fought more times than I can count." He almost laughed, but it turned into a clearing of the throat. The old man's gaze slid between Sokka and Zuko. "They know what's appropriate and when," he said in a firm tone.

"Stand down, Tom-Tom," Zuko said.

"But-"

"Stand down." When the boy didn't move, he said: "If you're so eager to prove your loyalty, then you can start with following my orders."

Tom-Tom let the hooks fall with a long sigh. Sokka sheathed his sword. They stared at each other. "This might be a good time to remind you two that you've already met," Katara said, standing. "Tom-Tom, meet my brother. Sokka, meet Tom-Tom. Remember him? He used to chew on that old blade of yours."

Sokka frowned. "Huh?"

"Omashu. The governor. Penta-pox. We tried to trade a baby for King Bumi?"

Sokka looked blank for a moment. Then his face split into a smile. "Well why didn't you just say so?" He grabbed Tom-Tom's collar and wrenched the boy into a hug. He pounded Tom-Tom's back. "Look how big you've gotten! I don't believe it!" He pushed Tom-Tom away and held him by the shoulders. "Did Katara tell you about the guy we knew who used the twin hooks? Not too bright, but a genius with those hooks."

"What's going on?" one of the children -- Zuko remembered her name as Sumi -- asked. She was the next eldest behind Senzo, and wore a long braid.

"It's your father," Suki said. "Don't ask."

"Mama, I'm hungry," said the youngest child.

"Sora, you just ate…"

"Yup, those are Sokka's kids all right," Toph said. "Let's eat!"

"That's a lovely idea," Ling said. "Come along, children!"

"Senzo, Saya, Siida, follow Aunt Toph and Aunt Ling," Suki said.

"But Mom-"

"It wasn't a request, kids." Suki smiled at her children. "Now get."

Rolling their eyes, they dragged their feet leaving the room. Ling shut the door behind them. "Does the baby need changing?" Suki asked.

"Yes," Katara and Zuko said in unison.

Suki busied herself with the baby. She made cooing noises as she lifted him from the mattress and some very vain part of Zuko was pleased she found the child cute. She dug up some fresh linen and made for the adjoining washroom. Zuko stood. "Tom-Tom, join the others."

Tom-Tom gave him a look that said he would rather eat with a horde of komodo rhinos, and stalked off. The door slammed shut and shook on its tracks. "I'll just go see what's troubling him," Iroh said, and crept out of the room. Then it was just Zuko, Katara, and Sokka, as before.

"So," Sokka said, rocking on his heels. "You two have a son."

Something in Zuko's stomach promptly flipped over. Katara spoke first: _"What?"_

"That baby. It's yours." He scratched the back of his neck and pulled his elbow behind his head. He stretched. "I mean, I understand it, I saw you two together back then, and the numbers add up-"

"Excuse me?" Zuko was vaguely aware of striding toward Sokka and the other man backing up. "What exactly are you implying?"

"I'm over it now, I know you're adults, I just wish you'd told me-"

"Told you what?" Katara joined Zuko. Her voice had gone hard.

Sokka looked between them and seemed to deflate. He raised his hands and let them fall. "I _saw_ you," he said. He sighed. "I saw you, okay? After Aang died. I saw you."

Katara folded her arms. "You saw us what? What do you think you saw?"

Sokka licked his lips. "Zuko carried you to his room," he said in a quiet voice. "You didn't come out."

A sound somewhere between a squeak and a croak emerged from Katara's throat. She stepped away. Her mouth moved, but no words came. "I was… I was _sleeping_…"

"The next day he held you in his arms," Sokka said. "The way he looked at you… Katara, you'd have to be blind not to see it…"

Katara stumbled backward. She found the nearest bed and sat there. "Get out."

Sokka squared his shoulders. "No. I'm not leaving."

"Out!"

"No! You're my-"

Zuko put a hand on his shoulder. "Your sister said to leave."

Sokka slapped his hand away and ducked around Zuko. "You're my sister and you don't get to keep this from me any more! Not when the whole Fire Nation capitol is talking about it!"

Zuko was reminded of those moments on the war balloon when turbulence would create sudden dips in his flight. _They think Kurzu is ours? Why wasn't I told?_ He raised his eyes and Katara was staring at him in horror. His throat went dry. "What?"

"They've done the math on this, too," Sokka said. "I know the kid's small, but he could still be yours. And his 'parents' have conveniently died, no grandparents have come to claim him, he's got blue eyes-"

"He's part Water Tribe!"

"Exactly!" Sokka shrugged. He sank into a nearby chair. "Come on, what was I supposed to think?"

"You were supposed to _know_ that I would _never_ take advantage of your sister," Zuko said. "You were supposed to _understand_ that I would rather _die_ than hurt-"

"We had just burned Aang and Appa," Katara whispered. She stared at her brother. "You honestly think that I…? Sokka, I had their ashes _in my hair._"

"You were mourning," Sokka said. He shifted in his seat. "You sat by Aang's pyre for hours. You went a little crazy-"

"Oh, so I'd have to be _crazy_ to sleep with him, huh?" Katara stood up and pointed at Zuko. "Do you even _grasp_ how insulting you sound right now?"

Sokka blinked, and frowned. Zuko watched the realization surface on his face. He leaned forward. "It's really happening, isn't it?" He was quiet. "You're really together. The rumors are true."

"This isn't about some stupid rumors!" Katara kicked a footstool. It crashed into the opposite wall bed frame. Zuko heard wood splintering. "This is about you thinking that I would just hop into bed with the next man who came along after Aang! This is about you thinking that Zuko would stoop that low!"

"We never hear from him! He doesn't answer letters! And I haven't seen you since that day! What was I supposed to think? _Especially_ when every fruit-seller from here to Chameleon Bay can't shut up about what a lovely couple you make! What was I supposed to believe?"

Katara lunged for Sokka. Zuko grabbed her elbows and held her. She twisted in his arms. "Don't," he said. "Don't do it. Don't hurt your brother."

"He's being an-"

"I know. But this house has seen enough sibling rivalry to last a hundred years." He released her and stepped forward. "Besides, he doesn't truly believe that rumor about Kurzu being ours."

Sokka stroked his beard. "I don't, huh?"

"No, you don't. You can't. Because if you did, it would mean that you had drawn your sword on my _family._" He leaned down and pitched his voice very low. "And I know you can't possibly be that stupid, Sokka, because if you _ever_ pulled a weapon on my wife or my son, I would have every right to cook your heart inside your chest." The barest spark of lightning fizzed between his fingers.

Sokka's mouth formed the word _Wife?_ but he remained silent. He took a deep breath. "Maybe I should just go."

"Hmm, you think?" Katara asked.

"Fine. I'll go. This is me going." He got up and started walking. "Come out from behind that door, Suki. It's time to go."

A very strained-looking Suki stepped out from behind the washroom door and hurried across the room with Kurzu in her arms. Watching her carry the child -- he looked wrong, somehow, being held by anyone but him or Katara -- he felt something crystallize in him, hard and bright as the stones under Ba Sing Se. "Stop," Zuko said. Suki froze. Zuko held his arms out. His fingers plucked the air. "Give me my son."

Surprise colored Suki's features. He heard Katara sputter a little. "If my people recognize him as mine, then that is his destiny," Zuko said, lifting him from the Kyoshi warrior's arms. He settled Kurzu on one arm and looked into clear blue eyes. "Isn't that right, Kurzu? Shouldn't we obey the will of the people whenever possible? You're going to have to learn these things, if you want to be Fire Lord."

Katara spun on her heel. "Zuko-"

"I'll adopt him from you," he said, still staring into the child's eyes. Funny, how he'd never noticed the little starbursts flaring out from the pupil before. "He was just another orphan for your temple, wasn't he? Well now he's mine. Have one of my secretaries draw up a certificate."

"Zuko, think about this." Sokka leaned against the door. "Fatherhood's not-"

"I thought you were leaving," Zuko said. Sokka shook his head and left. Suki squeezed through the doors and followed. Katara looked from the door to Zuko and Kurzu and back again. She sighed and collapsed into a chair.

"This is insane."

"I don't even know his birthday." Zuko lifted the child up in his arms, tossed him upward, and caught him. Kurzu squealed. "I'll have to make one up. I should choose an auspicious day. Maybe the fire sages can help."

"This isn't a game, Zuko."

"I hope not. I'm terrible at games."

"Are we playing a game right now?"

He caught Kurzu a second time and held him tight. He fixed his gaze on her. She looked tired and bewildered, but still beautiful. "No," he said. "I don't know what we're doing. I don't know what you want. If I did, I'd be doing it already. But in an ideal world, this is what I want. Right here, in this room, this is what I want. I want the three of us together." He hefted Kurzu and rested his chin on the child's silky scalp. "But two out of three isn't bad."

Katara let one long breath go. She folded over at the hips, resting her elbows on her knees and letting her hair fall to cover her face. "You can't just ask me to leave everything I've worked so hard to maintain."

He crossed over to her and let one hand drift into her hair. "I know." Katara sat up and leaned against his leg. He smoothed hair from her face. "But I didn't get this far by giving up."

She pursed her lips. "And if there's a plot against you?"

He felt his face harden. With the almost-fight with Sokka, he'd nearly forgotten. "Then I suggest you stock up on morsels for my dragon-hawks, because you will be far, far away from here."

"Ah. So we might finally enter the flowers and poetry phase of the relationship, huh?"

He ran one finger along the curve of her ear. "I let you go once," he said. "I won't do it again."

A shadow crossed her face, like a cloud quickly passing over the sun. She blinked and it vanished. "Oh, Zuko." Katara stood and folded her hands behind her back. She now looked happier than she had in days. "You're just never going to stop chasing me, are you?"

He brushed past her, kissed the corner of her mouth. "Not a chance."

≅

Iroh stood waiting outside the door. His robes rustled straight again as he adjusted his posture. "I suppose I don't have to explain this a second time, but you have a grandson," Zuko said. "We need to start the adoption procedures immediately." He switched the child to his other arm. "And then you can begin to tell me why it was that _the entire city_ thought he was my bastard, and you _neglected to inform me_ of it."

Iroh arched one bushy eyebrow and slid his hands into his sleeves. "What with one thing and another, my nephew, I had begun to suspect the same."

A retort boiled up to Zuko's lips. He started, but Kurzu seemed to sense it somehow and gave a little squall. Zuko bit his tongue. "I'm going to make this perfectly clear," he said. "Kurzu is not my flesh and blood. When I attended the Avatar's funeral, I did nothing to shame myself or Katara. I expect you to believe me when I say that."

"If that is what you say, then that is what I believe," Iroh said. "Only, it is a pity that he is not your son, as you cannot name him as your heir." Iroh winked.

"What do you mean, I can't? I'm the Fire Lord, I can-" Kurzu screeched into a full-blown cry. "I can do what I want," Zuko said, smoothing the child's back.

Iroh began walking down the hall. Zuko followed. "If he were related to you, even if he were your distant cousin, you could. But there is no precedent for a Fire Lord handing the crown to one not related by blood or marriage, much less a commoner." Iroh gave a long, dramatic sigh. "Of course, there have been cases of a lovechild or two making it to the throne… Usually when the ministers have been thoroughly convinced that the child is royal, when palace gossip holds it to be true despite what either parent says to the contrary…" Iroh turned and offered a pleasant smile. "Of course, that would not apply to you and your son, my nephew."

There had been a time in Zuko's life when his uncle's words had seemed unnecessarily cryptic and veiled. He would wonder why, in the midst of a conversation about firebending, the old man would begin to discuss the proper technique for playing a suungi horn. But that time had passed. Now his uncle's intentions were clear. _ He wants me to let the lie continue. The more I deny it, the more everyone will believe the opposite._

"Let's eat," Iroh said. "Don't just stand there staring at me! You have a new family member to introduce."

≅

Zuko was happy to escape to his office. His secretaries made nary a peep when he mentioned adopting Kurzu -- in fact, one of them had the forms already prepared. He was uncertain whether to take this as serendipity or a sign that what Sokka had said was true.

"I want it to be very clear that Kurzu is not my blood relative," he said as he watched Master Sho draw a rough copy of the certificate.

"Of course he isn't, my Lord."

"I have heard that there are rumors flying about which say otherwise. They are only rumors, nothing more."

"Yes, my Lord."

"This nation has clearly had its fill of peace, if it can spend so much idle time gossiping about me and my family."

"Quite right, my Lord." Master Sho tilted his head at the parchment. "My Lord, do you know the name of both the child's parents?"

Zuko blinked. "Su-Lin was the mother's name."

"But a family name, perhaps?"

"No…I don't remember."

"And did this Su-Lin tell you when Kurzu had been born? Did she mention whether she and her husband had registered for the tax?"

"She was profoundly ill, Master Sho."

"I see. Then I suppose she would not have told you if there were a certificate of marriage or birth," he said. "For tax purposes, you understand."

A small pain had quickly developed between Zuko's eyes. He squeezed them shut. "No, Master Sho, she did not."

_"UNCLE ZUKO!"_

He narrowly avoided jumping out of his skin entirely. Sokka's three oldest children had slid into the room. A guard chased after them, stopped short, bowed, and offered a sheepish, apologetic look. "My apologies, my Lord, I'll jus-"

"Is it true?" Saya asked.

Senze stepped forward, eyes glowing. "Did you really fight Tom-Tom in the arena?"

Zuko reached for a steadying cup of tea. "First, you are not to enter this room unannounced, and second, no. I did not _fight_ Tom-Tom. I would never _fight_ a child."

"But Tom-Tom's a big kid," said Siida. She dug her toe into the carpet and blushed. Her gaze hit the floor and the beads in her hair tinkled slightly.

_Sages preserve me._ "Tom-Tom is barely older than your brother. He's young enough to be my own son, if I had…" He noted their querying looks and faltered. He cleared his throat. "He's young. And I am not my father. Tom-Tom challenged me, not the other way around."

"But you used to fight when you were his age!" Senzo said. "Everyone says so!"

Zuko drained off some of his tea. "That was a different time."

"Aunt Katara said that you fought her when she was his age, and back then you were still older," Saya said, crossing her arms and smiling like she'd caught him in some sort of lie.

"Your aunt is a better fighter than Tom-Tom, and has been since she was fourteen. My fights with her allowed me to go beyond my limits. She depleted me. I often had no energy left." Master Sho coughed violently. He bent double over his desk and his shoulders shook. "Do you need some water, Master Sho?"

The calligrapher merely waved a dismissive hand. "It's nothing, my Lord."

Zuko looked to his nearest secretary. The man's smile quickly fell. Zuko gave the children a frown. "In any case, despite the intensity of our battles, I did my absolute best to avoid truly harming her. I would never hurt your aunt, then or now. And why are you so curious about this? Has your aunt been telling you tales of the past?"

"No, Tom-Tom was just bragging that he gets to spar with you every day," Saya said.

"Then Aunt Katara said that he was due for a lesson from her," Siida said quietly.

Senzo crowed. "You should have seen his face! He looked like he was gonna pee his pants!"

"Your aunt is a very formidable woman, and has a habit of getting what she wants," Zuko said. Master Sho promptly suffered another sudden attack of coughing. "Get the man some water, please," Zuko said, and a smiling aide moved toward the nearest jug. "And why are you all smiling? The war was very serious!" He pointed at the children. "Your aunt froze me to a glacier in the North Pole, I'll have you know. Only my breath of fire kept me from getting frostbite."

Senzo rushed his desk. His little brown palms slapped the wood. "Is it true that you swam the canals at the North Pole, and broke through the ice with just your fists?"

A smile tugged at Zuko's mouth. "Yes. That's true."

"And that was after some pirates had just tried to blow you up?"

"One of my father's admirals paid them to do that, yes. But I had time to recover. I was in hiding on the ship, of course, but it wasn't that interesting. My uncle helped me. The Avatar was there at the North Pole -- you should get your aunt to tell you about what he did there."

"That's Avatar stuff," Senzo said. "You did all those things without being the Avatar."

"Yes, and your father has done amazing things without even being a bender," Zuko said. "Your father can build almost anything he wants to. I can't even hammer a nail properly."

Senzo's eyes popped. "You _can't?_"

"No. Believe me, I've tried." He frowned. "This can't possibly be that interesting to you. Are you bored, yet? Do you plan on allowing me to work anytime soon?"

Senzo hung his head. "Okay…."

"We're sorry," Saya said, looking at the floor. "Come on, Siida."

Just then, a very small face poked around the corner and into the room. Zuko recognized Sora. She quickly pulled away. He saw her little fingers coiled around the doorframe. "What is your baby sister doing in the hall? Why aren't you watching her?"

"She's just shy," Saya said. The girl turned toward the empty door. "Sora, come in here. Uncle Zuko wants to see you." A pause, and then: "No? But he's nothing to be afraid of."

Laughter murmured gently across the room. _There goes my reputation. _Zuko picked up his tea. "It's all right. I used to be very scary once upon a time."

"She just doesn't remember you," Saya said. "She's never really met you. Mom was still carrying her when Uncle Aang died. That's why she couldn't come to the funeral."

"Speaking of which, where are your mother and father?"

"They're having some big important talk with the aunts," Senzo said. "Mom said they had to talk to Aunt Katara and that we should leave them alone."

Zuko wasn't sure who to envy least: Katara for having to put up with her family's prying, or her family for being foolish enough to do so. "And you somehow managed to evade my uncle?"

"Uncle Iroh's with them," Siida said. Her cheeks flamed. "It's okay if we call him that, right? He said it was okay!"

"I think I can share for a little while."

"He's going to be our great-uncle anyway," Saya said. Her hand instantly clapped over her mouth. "I mean, um…"

The pain between Zuko's eyes spiked. He glanced at his secretaries and aides. "Leave us. The children and I have a family matter to discuss."

He watched them file out. The children now seemed twice as chastened. "Bring your sister in here," he said. Saya retrieved the little girl. She hid in Saya's neck. Zuko stood, adjusted his tunic, and gestured for the children to sit. Slowly, they found chairs and cushions. Zuko leaned against his desk and crossed his arms.

"Now, what's this about my uncle?"

All four children looked away. They remained silent. Zuko waited. No answer came. He pushed air through his teeth. "Promise you won't be mad?" Siida asked.

"I promise I will not be angry with you." _My uncle is another matter._

Saya hugged her sister tight. Sora squirmed and crawled over the chair to hide behind it. Zuko saw her little eyes staring at him from under the chair. "He didn't really say anything," Saya said. "Siida called him 'sir' and he said we could call him Uncle Iroh. And then he said 'maybe even Great-Uncle Iroh, someday.'"

"Did he mean what I think he meant?" Senzo asked. "Are you going to marry our aunt?"

Zuko covered his eyes with one hand. Trust Sokka's children to be unusually bright. "Not today," he said under his breath.

"Huh?"

Zuko blinked and brought his hand away. He picked up his tea and directed some heat into the cup. The children all leaned forward. Honestly, one would think they had never seen simple domestic firebending. Zuko sipped his tea. "You all are going to hear some strange things now that you're here," he said. "The palace is like a small town. That means people gossip."

"Like Dad's old village?" Siida asked.

Zuko remembered clusters of huts and a bare smattering of people. "Yes. I'm sure there are some similarities." He sighed. "Either way, gossip can be harmful. It's very easy to get confused. But that's only if you pay attention to those people and what they say."

"Is Kurzu really your and aunt Katara's baby?" Siida asked.

"No. We brought him back from a village called Tetsushi."

"Why isn't he with his mom?"

"Both his parents died."

"Then why is everybody else saying something different?"

_Because I was stupid enough to carry Katara to my room, two years ago. Because neither of us thought to take Kurzu's information with us. Because we were distracted._ "That's something you should discuss with your father," he said. "But the important thing is that no matter what anyone says, it's not your problem. It's my problem. All you have to worry about is enjoying yourselves here, and not getting lost."

"See, I told you," Saya said, elbowing her brother. "Aunt Katara wouldn't have a baby with someone she wasn't married to." She raised her chin. "She'd want another pair of hands for all the work, at least."

"And how would she have hidden it from you?" Zuko asked. For the first time, it occurred to him that the rumors were not only unfounded, but silly and illogical. He spoke more to himself than the children. "Does everyone think she would have come to the Fire Nation over a year ago just to leave Kurzu in a remote village only for us to find him there later? How could she have known there would be an illness in Tetsushi?"

"Everyone's saying that she hid him on the ship when she came here a while ago," Senzo said.

"That's insane. She's a bloodbender, not a magician."

A giggle sounded from the shadows beneath the chair where Saya sat. Saya bent down. "You can come out from there anytime you want, Sora."

Senzo got on his hands and knees and peered under the chair. "Yeah, how 'bout we go look for some of those candies that Uncle Iroh likes to send?"

"No!"

"Sora, come on, it's almost time for lunch. You want to eat, don't you?"

This seemed to persuade her. Grunting, she crawled out from under the chair. One of her pigtails had come undone. The ribbon hung limply from her hair. Saya clicked her tongue and pulled the little girl into her lap. She began re-tying the ribbon. Zuko put Sora's age at about three -- he was terrible about guessing these things. If Senzo was twelve, that made Saya what, nine? And Siida six or seven? _Sokka is a braver man than I._ The child stared at him from below long eyelashes. She looked a bit more like her mother than her father -- a blessing, as far as Zuko was concerned -- and Zuko watched her firm her resolve in a way that was strangely reminiscent of the way the Kyoshi warrior gathered courage. Her little chin set and her shoulders stiffened. _"Whathappenedtoyoureye?"_ she asked in a rush.

Belatedly, Zuko realized how frightening his face must have been for her. His hand automatically rose to cover it. _My face? I see._ He saw Saya pinch her sister. "Sora! Apologize!"

"It's all right," he said. "It was a long time ago. And the man who did this to me is gone now. He can't hurt anybody."

Senzo piped up. "Is it true that Fire Lord Ozai-"

"Yes." Zuko pushed away from the desk. "Let's eat. If your mother finds out I let you spoil your lunch with fire flakes, she'll have my hide."

"Aw, man…" Senzo stretched. "You never tell us any of the good stories."

"When you're older," Zuko said.

"That's what everybody says!" Senzo threw up his hands and made to leave the room. A moment later, he back-tracked with wide eyes and red cheeks. "Um, Uncle Zuko…"

A woman with an eye-patch strode into the room. She carried the musky smell of an animal. It triggered something in Zuko's memory. She turned to him and his memory snapped into place. "Hey there, Fire Lord," she said. "Let's make a deal."

"Children," he said tightly, "meet Jun. She's a bounty hunter."


	15. Chapter 14

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Fandomme**

**Chapter 14**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon and VIACOM. No profit is made by this story.**

**Notes: I want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed. This story currently has 287 reviews, and is the best-reviewed story I've ever written. Thanks for that. And if you're a lurker, I want to hear from you! Your opinions matter!**

**Also, my buddy Rachel the Demon has a great fic out called **_**Chong Sheng**_** at GreatestJournal. Google it. It's awesome.**

≅

The war had not been kind to Jun. Not only had the intervening years taken her right eye -- her hair hung over the patch now, and Zuko saw the odd strands of silver there in all the black -- but she sported a tough old burn scar on her neck. Glossy, lumpy flesh peeked out above her high collar. A firebender had clearly tried to choke her once. She hunched over her food. She sucked komodo thigh meat straight off the bone. Her lacquered nails shredded skin and tendons away from the carcass. She had eaten this way for almost half an hour. Zuko had begun wondering if she would ever speak up.

"What do you mean he doesn't want to see me?"

Zuko, Iroh, and Jun all frowned at the door. Jun continued chewing slowly. Katara's voice, muffled by wood and steel, sounded again: "I don't care who he's in a meeting with, he wants to hear this."

The pain between Zuko's eyes had grown from an irritating little spike to an all-encompassing cloud. He squeezed his eyes shut and stood. Sighing, he wrenched open the door. "What?"

Katara blinked and frowned. "What's wrong?" She peeked around him. "Is that _Jun?_"

Behind him, the bounty hunter piped up: "Hey there, Bloodbender."

"What is Jun doing here?"

Zuko folded his arms. "What are _you_ doing here? I'm working."

Katara peered around him again. "Could have fooled me. It looks like you're giving Jun some lunch."

There was the tiniest little hint of a titter from one of the guards, and Zuko affixed the man with a silencing glare. He pulled Katara into the room by the wrist and shut the door. They stood inside the alcove. "What do you have to tell me?"

Katara eyed Iroh. Her chin rose. "It's private."

He pitched his voice low. "Let me guess. Family meeting?"

"Family ultimatum, more like. I'll tell you later. What is Jun doing here?"

"She says she has information on Tizo."

Katara's eyes popped. Hope lit them for just a moment before they narrowed. "How much does she want?"

Zuko had to restrain himself from kissing her. Instead he offered a tight smile and said under his breath: "You're a born Fire Lady." He nodded at the door. "I suppose it's no good asking you to sit this one out at the hotspring?"

She shook her head. "I have just as much a right to that information as you do, Zuko. That man made me doubt my own bending. _And_ he made Kurzu's mother sick." And with that she breezed into the office and took a seat across from Jun.

"So," Katara said. "How's the bounty hunting business?"

Jun offered a greasy smile. "It's about to be a lot better."

"That's if your information proves useful," Zuko said, standing over the table. "We don't have time for another wild shirshiu chase."

Jun batted her single pair of eyelashes. "I seem to remember you enjoying the last wild shirshui chase, Fire Lord." She grinned. "And if I recall correctly, I predicted this whole thing _years_ ago."

"What whole thing?"

Jun gestured between him and Katara. "This whole thing." Her hands came up. "Now don't get mad. Women in my line of work have to learn how to read people."

"She has a good point, Nephew," Iroh said, idly turning a cup of tea in his fingers. "Your attraction to-"

"Uncle!"

Iroh blinked. "Oh. Right." He cleared his throat. "Jun, it is lovely to see you again, but now that you have eaten a little something, perhaps you could share with us the information you promised?"

"I didn't promise anything, old man."

"Watch it, lady," Katara said. "I've got a friend down the hall who can tell if you're lying. Don't make me bring her in here."

Jun merely smiled up at Zuko. "So, when's the wedding?"

Zuko kicked the chair out from under her. Jun tumbled to her knees. She stared up at him with her single mutinous eye. "Talk," Zuko said. "Quit wasting my time."

Jun picked herself up and threw her shoulders back. "Fine." She took a deep breath. "I'm in trouble."

He clasped his hands behind his back. "What else is new?"

"I know where your precious overseer is."

"So do my forces. They're apprehending him as we speak."

Katara's jaw dropped. Zuko winced. In the midst of the recent goings-on -- the baby's illness, the potential plot against him, Sokka's arrival, his own decision to adopt Kurzu -- he had neglected to mention that little detail. She gave him a look that he'd seen reserved only for Aang and Sokka in the past -- he was in trouble, and he'd pay for it later.

"They're not," Jun was saying. "They're too late."

"How do you know this?" Iroh asked.

Jun swallowed. "Because I gave him back to the people of Tetsushi."

Silence. Zuko nodded slowly. "You sent him to his death."

"I was just doing my job. I didn't know what they wanted with him. I thought he'd run out on some debts." She smiled. "Then, of course, I saw the wanted posters."

"How convenient," Katara said. "Let me guess -- you want two rewards for the price of one?"

"Come on, Bloodbender, everyone knows how cheap Fire Lord Zuko is. He hasn't named a price for Tizo the overseer. If he had, he'd have found him a lot sooner."

Zuko straightened. He looked into Jun's good eye. Crows' feet had begun to feather the skin. She looked tired, thin and scared. She tossed her hair and avoided his gaze. "You're not doing yourself any favors," he said. "No tell me what you're so afraid of. It should be me, but I know it's not."

Jun snorted a weak laugh. "I'm not afraid. I'm prudent." She licked dry lips. "I have information you want."

"You've given it to me already. Give me something new or get out."

"Tell me I'll be looked after, first." One perfect eyebrow rose. "I've heard you're pretty good about financing charity cases for the right kind of girl."

Behind her, Katara stood up. Iroh stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. Zuko focused on Jun. The image of Sokka's drawn sword surfaced in his mind. "I've demonstrated remarkable self-control today, Jun. Don't make me break my record."

Jun shifted weight. "Do you think your son getting so sick was an accident?"

Zuko clenched his hands so hard he felt the fingernails leave behind little tears in the thread of his sleeves. Jun smiled smugly. She still stained her lips an almost purple color, and he briefly imagined what she'd look like dead -- _if she doesn't cooperate, if she holds back, I don't know what I'll do._

"How do you know about that?"

"I know that the men who hired me were more than happy to see 'that dirty halfbreed' leave with 'the whelp and his Water Tribe whore.'"

Zuko saw white. Belatedly, he realized it was fire. And it was in his hand. And he was about to throw it at Jun. The bounty hunter didn't flinch. She merely nodded. "Nice to know some things never change."

With great effort, he opened his hand and let the fire dissipate. "Those were their words, not yours."

"Exactly," she said. "I don't care who you sleep with."

"And I don't care what slow-witted backwoods _morons_ think about me," he said. _Katara and Kurzu are another matter entirely. _"So try again."

"The men who hired me are part of a larger organization," she said. "A _much_ larger organization. Full of more than just 'slow-witted backwoods morons.'"

"How would you know?" Katara asked.

Jun half-turned. "I do my homework," she said. "How else would I know how much to charge?"

"And how much did you charge?" Iroh asked.

"A lot." She grinned. "There are a lot of people who don't like you very much, Fire Lord. And they've got a lot of money."

His skin went cold. It was a nightmare scenario: a well-funded, hidden rebellion with contacts inside the palace. The pieces slowly came together in Zuko's mind. Tetsushi. The missing dragon-hawks. Kurzu's illness. Possibly even the rumors about him and Katara. When he stepped away from the problems they merged into one, like the White Lotus pattern on a Pai Sho board. _Dear sages, what if they planned it to happen in Tetsushi? What if Katara and I narrowly missed a worse fate through sheer luck? What if that weasel-snake was meant for me? I was alone with my men enough times, why didn't they strike? Was I saved only because the people of Tetsushi were too weak to attack?_

He looked up and standing behind Jun was Katara, her eyes fear-wide but steely. _And just when we were doing so well. _Iroh looked like a man made of stone; his eyes carried that dark, terrible weight that only burdened them when he mentioned Lu Ten. The sight gave Zuko an odd sense of comfort -- if the family was in danger, Iroh would protect them, and Iroh was an army unto himself.

"Tell me more," Zuko said.

"Make it worth my while."

_You could, you know,_ said a voice that sounded like Azula's inside his mind. _You could chain her to a bucket of water and shoot lightning at her until she told you everything you could ever want to know. And if she held out, there's always Katara. She could fix up whatever damage you cause, and then stop the poor woman's heart if she gets bored. She is the Bloodbender, after all. You two could make a pretty good team, Zu-Zu. Think about it._

Zuko looked into at Jun's single, smiling eye. "You're free to go," he said.

Genuine surprise flitted over her face. "You're just as cocky as I remember," she said, recovering herself. "Fine. Have it your way."

"Out."

He watched Jun leave. He waited until his breathing had slowed to look at Iroh. "Make sure she's followed. And find your Pai Sho friends."

"You read my mind, nephew," Iroh said. "I'll just be on my way. You two have plenty to discuss." Iroh left the room, and then it was just Zuko and Katara staring at each other across the silent, suddenly-too-large office.

Katara sighed through her teeth. She tilted her head at him. "I saw you make the decision," she said. "It was right there on your face. You could have done a lot worse to her."

Zuko shut his eyes against the image of Jun's already-scarred body writhing in a cage of lightning. "I know."

"And I would have helped you." His eyes opened. Katara looked at the floor. "I mean, I like to think that I wouldn't have wanted to, but it's you and it's the family and it's Kurzu and I don't know…and you spared me from having to make that choice." She crossed over to him. She began adjusting his jacket, tweaking the collar, straightening the seams. Her face rose. "That's not the kind of bloodbender I want to be."

He covered her hands with his. "It's not the kind of Fire Lord I want to be, either."

Katara rose on her toes and planted a single chaste kiss on his lips. "Thank you." She leaned against him and her arms slid around him and up to his neck. "Thank you."

He laid his cheek on her scalp. "It looks like it's time for dragon-hawks and poetry," he said.

She squeezed him tighter. "Not yet." She pulled away. "You can't get rid of me that easily."

He leaned their foreheads together. "Did your family meeting re-ignite your stubborn streak?"

"No, that would be you being stupidly old-fashioned," she said. "Well, you and Sokka. And Suki. And your uncle."

Despite himself, Zuko laughed. "With friends like these…"

She leaned on him again and held him tighter. One of his hands came up stroked her hair. He had missed this part -- usually it only happened in bed on the edge of sleep, but he had always enjoyed it. He had even liked it with Mai -- the closeness, being allowed to be close, feeling that for once he wasn't an imposition on another person's space, feeling genuinely wanted and not pitied. Fitting somewhere. Belonging.

"It's not even what they suggested," Katara was saying. "It was hearing how happy Suki sounded. She kept on saying that I had yet to know the joys of motherhood and Sokka kept on asking why Aang and I had never…" Her grip on him stiffened. "He said I'd be a great mom if I just…" She shrugged. "It was on the tip of my tongue to tell them, you know? I lost a baby and Aang didn't want to risk it any more, so he gave up. He did it because he loved me. There's nothing wrong with that."

"There are all kinds of things wrong with it."

"Why can't I tell them the truth? How come I can tell you and not them? They're my _family_. You're…"

"I'm just the man that loves you," he said, and instantly wished he could un-say it. _Really, you'll never learn when to shut up, will you?_ _First Ozai's war chamber, then Ba Sing Se, now this._

She was already pulling away. Her eyes searched him. He had to look at a point somewhere past her shoulder. She was quiet: "What?"

"I'm sorry, you don't have to answer, I know you don't-" But she had already covered up his mouth with hers and he was already stumbling backward against his desk. He hooked his hands under her legs and hoisted her up and switched their position, blindly pushing papers out of the way as she landed on the desk. Her legs curled around him, pulled him in. "Don't tell me you didn't know," he said, lips tingling, when she surfaced for air. He kissed down her neck. Dear sages, how he'd missed her. Her fluttering breath in his ear and her fingers clenched in his hair. "Don't even try pretending with me."

"I'm not, I just wasn't sure…" Her voice faltered and her breath caught.

"Please, how could you not have known?" He nipped her a little, felt her flinch. "Don't tell me my favorite waterbender's still so innocent."

"It's not innocence, I was just…"

"Dense?" He kissed her. "Myopic?"

"I didn't want to get my hopes up," she said in a small voice. He froze, withdrew. She bit her lip and gripped his jacket loosely between her fingers. Zuko rocked on his toes, still breathing hard. "You kept on saying all the right things and doing exactly what I needed..." She swallowed. "I get scared that one day I'll say 'I thought you'd _changed!_' and you'll say 'I _have_ changed,' and it'll be Ba Sing Se all over again, only this time you won't come back."

Zuko took hold of her hands. They were cold and he gripped them so hard they shook. "_No_," he said. "I won't do that. Not again. I'm not that person any longer. I swear to you I'm not."

She looked away. "Then you'll say that I need protecting and that I need to leave and then suddenly it's years later and you're who-knows-where fighting who-knows-what, and I'm stuck at home taking care of everyone." Her eyes found his. "Is that what you're going to do, Zuko? If Jun's right and you do have powerful enemies, are you really going to try to send me away?"

He kissed her forehead. "Sweetness…"

"Being with me means taking all of me, all the time," she whispered. "You don't get to put me away when it's convenient for you."

He squeezed his eyes closed. "If someone hurts you or the baby or Iroh, I don't know what I'll become."

"I do," Katara said. "You don't get to have this both ways, Zuko. If you want to be my partner then that's what you have to be. My _partner_. We have to be on the same team. You don't leave me and I don't leave you."

He pulled away. Their hands slid apart. "But you'll leave me for the orphanage? I thought it was unfair of me to ask you to give that up. I thought that was your objection."

She gave him a hard look and crossed her arms. "You aren't going to convince me to leave behind everything I've worked so hard to maintain for a man who's going to leave _me_ behind when the next threat looms on the horizon."

Zuko slammed his palms on the desk. "I'm asking you to be my wife, not my admiral!"

"And I'm asking you to be my husband, not my dad!"

Her eyes bore into his. For some reason he thought of the Spirit Oasis. Her eyes were always so blue when she was angry. Her lips had firmed to a single line. "I won't be left behind and I won't be shut out," she said. "If you want me to be Fire Lady, then start treating me like it. Start telling me everything. Don't keep secrets from me, Zuko. Don't break my heart and insist it's for my protection."

She hopped off the desk and slid around him. He saw her brush something from her eye as she made for the door. She pushed through it and he heard her steps ringing on the marble outside. He listened to their rapid retreat. _You missed something important, Zu-Zu._ His memory caught up with his breathing, and he was running after her. Pillars and scrolls blurred past him. Torches flared in his vision. He skidded around a corner and she was there; he caught her by the wrists and pulled her around to face him.

"Did you just ask me to marry you?"

Katara blushed to the roots of her hair and looked at the floor before meeting his eyes. "I opened negotiations."

There was a feeling like a Fire Days festival inside his blood, and he took hold of her face before kissing her once, hard, on the mouth. "I've done more with less. Let's go see Toph."

"Toph?" She frowned. "You're not scoring too many points for romance, here, you know."

"Katara, in the span of a single day, I've adopted a child, told you I'm in love with you, and begun _negotiating_ with you. What more could you possibly want?" His good eyebrow rose. "Unless you have plans for this evening?"

She stuck out her tongue. "Don't push your luck, Sparky."


	16. Chapter 15

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Fandomme**

**Chapter 15**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon and VIACOM. No profit is made by this story.**

**Notes:**

**I want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed. Recently I did a tally of all the countries the readers of this story come from. You're quite an international crowd! In addition to the US and Canada, this story has readers in China, Brazil, Portugal, the Philippines, France, England, Australia, Ireland, Germany, and Sweden! Thanks to all my readers for making this process worthwhile. **

≅

Zuko detoured long enough to find his captain of the guard. She was a rather tall, fierce woman named Xiao Zhi whose White Lotus affiliations ran deep enough that she had been the "older sister" at Piandao's dojo and had recruited Sokka's swordmaster to the organization. As the daughter of Piandao's teacher, it wasn't difficult. She was more Iroh's employee than Zuko's; she and the old man had an understanding and as long as it got things done, Zuko saw no need to disrupt the status quo. Now, however, there was no time to waste. Zuko and Katara found her in the armory with a slight, eager young man at her side. They strode into a room lined with explosives. Both the woman and the boy made the traditional salute before Xiao Zhi said: "My Lord, my Lady. How may I be of service?"

Beside him, Katara blushed. Zuko fixed his gaze on the older woman. "My uncle trusts you in all matters. I find I must do the same."

Xiao Zhi lifted two white eyebrows. She spoke in a sandpaper voice. "May lightning strike me if I fail you, my Lord."

It wasn't an idle vow when speaking to a Fire Lord, and they both knew it. "My son," Zuko said. "My nephew and nieces. All of our guests. I want their protection increased. Everyone, down to the gardeners; I want only the best to surround them. I have received information that a plot may be afoot. The information may be spurious. Reports are forthcoming. For now I want your eyes everywhere."

"My Lord," Xiao Zhi said, a smile tugging at her deeply-creased mouth. "Your son and his cousins have had heightened security for days now. They have had since your son first fell ill. Those were General Iroh's orders."

Zuko felt his good eye widen just a fraction. "My uncle suspected…?"

"The General does not take his grandson's health lightly, my Lord."

"But he told us not to worry," Katara said.

"Naturally, my Lady," Xiao Zhi said, inclining her head slightly. "My operatives are functioning at top efficiency. There is no need to fear."

Zuko frowned. "The palace physician…"

"One of ours, my Lord."

"And the nanny?" he asked.

Xiao Zhi shook her head softly. "The White Lotus has yet to reveal its secrets to her. Her family, on the other hand…" The old woman straightened. "We can eliminate her at any time, my Lord. But we have followed her since the incident and she has revealed no disloyalty. She is the only suitable nursing mother on staff. If she poisoned the prince, then she tainted her own milk from within."

Part of Zuko had gone very warm. Heat radiated from his chest outwards like fever, like the day of the comet, and burned pleasantly down his arms and legs. _She called him "the prince."_ Katara was talking: "You can just have her taken out like that? Isn't that a little harsh?"

Xiao Zhi's golden eyes examined Katara the way a dragon-hawk's might focus on a polar mouse. "Fire Lord Ozai's reign may be over, my Lady, but the Fire Nation still does not suffer weak links in the chain."

Katara stepped backward. "You sound like Azula…"

Xiao Zhi's lip curled. "A weapon is a weapon, my Lady. The Fire Lord wields me as he wishes."

"And now I wield you as the twin blade to my uncle," Zuko said. "I am relying on you to protect both my sides."

"I will break before I fall, my Lord."

"See that you do neither." He turned to Katara. "Let's go."

≅

They found Toph in the garden with the children. She stood perfectly perched atop a small, smooth stone, sending up curtains of shale and pebbles to block Saya's fist-sized rocks. Zuko frowned. "Their eldest girl is an earthbender?"

"No one was more surprised than Sokka," Katara said. "Or more proud."

"What's up, Sparky?" Toph asked, stamping her foot into the sand. A pillar of stone levitated Saya high into the sky. The girl shrieked laughter and clung to the pillar. Toph brought it down, then back up. Saya screamed a little and giggled with each turn.

"May I borrow your aunt from you?" Zuko asked the girl.

Saya plunged the pillar back to earth and hopped away. "Sure thing, Uncle Zuko." She eyed him and Katara, then grinned and ran away. Her braid bounced on her back as her legs pumped. Zuko watched her; she bounded to a nearby training ground where Sokka stood overseeing a match between Tom-Tom and Senzo. Sokka modeled the motions with his own sword first, then Senzo tried -- awkwardly -- to repeat them. Sand spiraled up around their feet in the afternoon light. A sudden breeze brought the scent of the sea.

"Takes you back, doesn't it?"

Zuko blinked and looked at the earthbender. "I have a favor to ask."

Toph shrugged. "Name it."

"I want you to learn whether my son's nanny poisoned him."

Toph's mouth opened. She blinked. Then she licked her lips twice and said: "Right. No problem. It's done. But it'll go better if you help me." She frowned. "Sparky? Is there something going on I should know about?"

Zuko paused. "And if there were?"

A small smile curved across Toph's pale face. "Then I'd say someone's messing with the wrong family."

Something very like peace of mind washed over him. "If that's what the Blind Bandit says, then I know there's nothing to fear."

"Damn straight," Toph said. "Leave it to me. We'll start by visiting the little one. Come on."

She led them to the training ground where Sokka was demonstrating another move for his son. Tom-Tom rolled his eyes at Zuko as he and Katara passed. "Hey, there's the proud papa," Suki said, grunting a little as she rose to her feet and offered Kurzu to Zuko. "You hold him for a while. I need a stretch."

Zuko slid an arm under Kurzu's legs, but the child immediately wanted down. He squirmed and Zuko crouched in the grass with him. To his surprise, Kurzu used his protruding knees as leverage and hauled himself up to stand. His tiny hands wavered in the air for a moment before Zuko caught them. A giant, drool-smeared smile appeared on Kurzu's face. "You're standing," Zuko said. "You're really standing." He turned his head. "Katara, look, he's-"

Katara stood with Suki, a grin on her face and her hands gloved in glowing water as they roved over the other woman's belly. Suki rubbed her lower back and sighed. Katara brought her hands away, bent the water back to its pouch, and nodded. Beside him, Saya slapped her forehead with her palm. "Not again…" She brandished a finger at him. "You only get to have one baby, Uncle Zuko. I can't take of any more!"

His jaw dropped. "Your mother is pregnant _again?_"

"Dad says she's more fertile than the Foggy Swamp," Siida said, her ears going pink.

From her place beside Siida, Sora shouted: "_Mama!_ Siida called you a _swamp!_"

"No one likes a tattletale, Sora." Suki waved her off. "I'll be with you in a minute."

"One baby," Saya said, raising her chin. "No more."

Zuko looked at Kurzu's smiling face. The child -- his child, now, the prince of the Fire Nation and law be damned -- looked healthy and pleased with himself. He was chubbier now than when they'd brought him from Tetsushi. His eyes were brighter and bluer and his smile had more teeth. He'd spoken his first word. _And if anyone tries to hurt him, I'll burn them down to powder._ "One is enough for me."

"That's what everyone says," Suki said, coming to stand beside him. "Then you realize he'll have no one to ride the elephant koi with."

"It looks as though he'll have no shortage of cousins," Zuko said. He extracted his fingers from Kurzu's grasp and turned the child around. "Let's try walking, little one." But rather than let him walk, Zuko steered his son toward his nanny. The young woman sat a few paces away with her back turned to the family, her arm crooked in an unmistakable nursing posture. Zuko cleared his throat. The woman -- he vaguely recalled her name was Shuzi and now cursed himself for not paying better attention earlier on -- quickly covered herself. As she did, Zuko watched Toph quietly take up a position behind her in a copse of gold-birches.

"My Lord," Shuzi said, flushing. She stood and dipped the knee. "I apologize. The Kyoshi-"

"There is no need to apologize," he said. "I am merely here to inquire after the health of your own child. A girl, isn't it?"

"Yes, my Lord. Her name is Sa Ming."

Zuko peered at the bundle in Shuzi's arms. The infant seemed awfully small, and now sounded somewhat angry about having her feeding interrupted. Her little red mouth yawned open and puckered toothlessly. "How old?"

"Only six months, my Lord."

Zuko nodded as though that meant something to him -- he really couldn't judge ages very well; growing up alongside a prodigy did that to a person -- and said: "And how is she faring?"

Shuzi' smile faltered. "Faring, my Lord?"

"The illness that weakened my son," he said. "He and your daughter are in close quarters. Surely it impacted her as well."

Shuzi blinked and swallowed. "No, my Lord," she said. "She was lucky. I am very blessed."

_We'll see about that._ His gaze drifted over to Toph; the earthbender gave him a thumbs-up. "It seems you are. Don't you find it strange that two children who share the same nurse -- even the same nursery -- should have such different reactions to an illness?"

Sweat appeared on Shuzi's brow. "Yes, it is very strange, my Lord."

Again, Toph gave the thumbs-up. "And do you have any idea why that might be?"

Shuzi's gaze hit the grass. She seemed to choke a little. "My Lord…"

"I am speaking to you as a fellow parent, not your Fire Lord," he said in a voice that he knew sounded anything but fatherly. He stepped forward until he could smell the scent of milk on her child's breath. "You have more experience than I do in these matters. I'm going to ask you again: do you have any idea why my son fell ill and your daughter did not?"

Trembling, Shuzi said: "No, my Lord, I do not."

Zuko's head rose and he looked to where Toph sat shaded by trees. The earthbender's features had settled into a grim mask. Her thumb shifted parallel to the ground; her confidence in the other woman's truthfulness was shaken. "Thank you," Zuko said, and lifted Kurzu. He nodded his dismissal. "You have been most helpful."

Zuko moved Kurzu to his shoulders. Toph re-appeared at his side a moment later. "She's terrified of you," Toph said.

"She should be."

"It makes her hard to read. Up until the last minute, though, she was dead-on. I can't tell if she was lying to you or just ready to shit her pants." She sighed and folded her hands behind her head. "The kid needs a better nickname. I'm thinking Drooly."

"You are _not_ calling my son _'Drooly.'_"

"Swaddler?"

"No."

"Stinky?"

"No!"

Toph snapped her fingers. "I've got it!" She pointed at a spot a few inches away from Kurzu. "Slowpoke."

The baby leaned toward her. _"Oph."_

Toph's finger fell. "What did he just say?"

"Apparently he's not as slow as you thought," Zuko said. "Try again, Kurzu. _Toph. T…oph._"

_"Oph! Oph!"_

"Good boy." Zuko lifted the child down and set him on the ground. He held his hands tight. He directed him toward Katara. "Let's go see if you can learn any more."

"His second word already?" Iroh appeared lumbering down the path, a scroll in one hand. He smiled down at the child. "You're not slow at all." Iroh moved a little closer and lowered his voice. "Perhaps a family meeting is in order before dinner, my nephew." He rocked on his toes. "And by that I mean the _whole_ family."

"I see…" Zuko frowned. "The children?"

"I have had your trainers set up an obstacle course." His expression darkened. "You may never know when they will need the skills."

Zuko nodded. "It was your idea. Make it happen."

Iroh shuffled off toward the training ground. "Sokka! May I interest you in a drink before dinner? Grown-ups only, of course."

Sokka's face broke into a huge smile. "You read my mind, old man."

"Fruit juice for me, thanks," Suki said.

"But we were just getting to the good stuff," Senzo said, flailing lamely with his practice sword.

"Don't you want to challenge Tom-Tom to the obstacle course?" Zuko asked.

The boy's eyes glowed. "_Obstacle course?_ Last one there's a rotten koi!"

Tom-Tom looked heavenward and let his twin hooks fall. "No training is worth this…"

Zuko watched as the other adults herded the children toward the course. Tom-Tom hung back. "Get going," Zuko said.

Tom-Tom turned to him. His expression was classic Mai and for a moment Zuko profoundly wished his childhood sweetheart was alive, if only so she could see herself reflected in this boy. "I'm not their nanny," Tom-Tom was saying.

"No, but you _are_ one of the few people I trust with my nieces and nephew. Senzo and Siida will listen to you, and Saya can help you. Keep them out of trouble. Don't let Sora wander off. And no bending."

"No_bending?"_

"No bending. Sokka's children don't play with firebenders; they don't know the rules. I'll see you at dinner." When the youth still hung back, he added: "This is part of your training too, Tom-Tom. When I ask you to do something, I expect you do it."

Tom-Tom sighed. "All right."

"Good. Thank you."

≅

Iroh convened the meeting in his personal, private study. The room could have been an antiques shop, so crammed was it with the various trinkets the old man had acquired on his travels. Sokka stared at a stone monkey with rubies for eyes and said: "I swear I've seen this thing before…"

"First, a toast," Iroh said, lifting an elegantly-carved bone cup of ryu-nyuu, "to my new grandson."

"Hear, hear," said Toph. "Way to go, Sparky."

They drank. The ryu-nyuu burned its way down Zuko's throat. The taste was less offensive than he remembered it being in his youth. _I must be getting old._

"Now if you could just find a mother for your baby," Suki said, cocking her head toward Katara.

Beside him on a red silk sofa, Katara stiffened. Zuko cleared his throat and adjusted his cuffs. "I did not bring you here to discuss private matters," he said. He looked at Sokka and took a deep breath. "Do you remember Jun?"

Sokka smiled. "Do _I_ remember Jun? Be still my beating heart, of _course_ I remember Jun! How could I forget? Her with those beautiful-" Sokka seemed to sense Suki's eyes on him. His hands froze in the air. "Shoulders," he said. "She had a great pair of shoulders."

"And she still does," said Iroh. "She paid us a visit today."

"What would a bounty hunter want with you?" Suki asked.

"She claimed to have information on the man from Tetsushi that we've been seeking," Zuko said. "She claims to have delivered him to the last remaining citizens there. In all likelihood, the man is dead."

Toph shrugged. "So? Good riddance."

"She also claimed that there is a well-funded rebellion in the works," Katara said. She leaned over and rested her elbows on her hands. Her drink slowly iced over between them. "There's a chance that you're all in danger."

The room went quiet. Only Kurzu's half-speech carried. Zuko watched him crawl over to a low table and use it to pull himself up. "What evidence did she give?" Ling asked.

"Almost none," Zuko said, still watching his new son. "She… She suggested that Kur- my _son's_ -- recent illness was the result of something deliberate." He swallowed. "There have also been dragon-hawks missing. Communications may be being tampered with. And the rumors that you heard…may be part of a misinformation campaign."

"Or she could be screwing with us," Katara said.

"Wait, why were _you_ at that meeting?" Sokka asked, pointing toward his sister. "Don't tell me you made up your mind so quickly."

Zuko turned. "What's he babbling about now?"

Katara's eyebrow twitched. "I'll tell you later. First we decide what to do about all this."

"We don't do squat," Toph said from over her drink. "We've got no evidence. Sparky, if you strike now without any proof, you'll look like your dad on a bad day. You can't do that."

"Oh, so I should just let traitors into my home where they can hurt my family?"

"No, you should be asking _me_ to help you! I can figure out who's lying to you a lot faster than you can." Toph plunked her drink down on the floor. "Kurzu's nanny didn't poison him as far as we know. She's nervous, but when I mentioned Slowpoke's sickness to her, she didn't start lying. She's afraid and with good reason. You're a scary guy when you want to be."

"That doesn't mean she wasn't asked to by someone else," Katara said. "Jun knew about the sickness. How did she know? Someone must have told her. Maybe she had heard about a plot, but Shuzi got too scared to follow through with it."

"Because she knew she'd lose more than her job if Sparky found out," Sokka said.

"Or that you would find the poison during your healing procedure," Suki said.

The hairs on Zuko's arms rose. He stared at his son. Cold rippled through his chest and into his stomach. "That's it."

"Huh? What's it? Sparky?"

"I was going to send Iroh," Zuko said slowly. He turned to Katara. "I was going to send you and Iroh to Tetsushi."

She frowned. "I know that. But why is that so important?"

"Before you arrived, we had only announced that I was to go," Iroh said. Zuko could see the gears whirling in his uncle's mind. "For your own security, we did not publicly state that you were on your way or that you had agreed to visit Tetsushi. We only announced that after your arrival."

"They didn't know…" Zuko licked his lips. "They didn't know, Katara. They didn't expect both of us. That's what saved us."

"They wouldn't have attacked someone accompanied by the Bloodbender," Suki said. "She could have healed the damage."

"And inflicted worse," Katara said.

"So what you're saying is that Tizo the overseer was part of a big conspiracy to poison the people of Tetsushi and attract your attention so that you would send Iroh, just so that they could take Iroh out?" Toph frowned. "Doesn't that mean that Iroh was the original target?"

Iroh examined his cup. "Yes."

"But if they're after Zuko…"

"They would start with his best general," Sokka said. He turned to Katara. "Forget everything I said before, Katara. I want you out of here. Now."

"What does he mean?" Zuko asked.

"It's too late, Sokka," Katara said. "I've made up my mind. And don't you ever try to order me around again. I'm not getting left behind this time."

"If this is about Aang-"

"It's_not_ about _Aang._" Katara sat up straight. "So are you all going to leave, or not?"

The room went silent. Belatedly, Zuko noticed his son chewing on a corner of the table and pulled him away from it. He checked the boy's mouth for splinters. He felt Sokka's eyes on him. Toph spoke: "I'm not leaving my friends behind." She picked up her drink from the floor. "Snoozles and Fan-Girl have little ones to worry about. I don't. I'm staying."

"That means I'm staying too," said Ling.

Iroh leaned over and spoke in Sokka's direction. "Sokka, no one would fault you and Suki for wanting to leave. Toph is right. You have children to think of. I don't want you putting them in danger."

Sokka sighed. He turned to Suki. "You could go," he said. "You could take the kids, and-"

"Sokka, we're a matched set. If you're staying, then I'm staying."

"But the kids-"

Suki held up a finger, effectively silencing him. "Iroh, what evidence do we actually have that this bounty hunter wasn't just trying to play you for some petty cash?"

"My sources should begin reporting to me this evening. Currently, she is being followed."

"Well, we wouldn't be able to leave until at least tomorrow anyway, so we might as well wait for whatever information we can get." Suki smiled. "So in the meantime, I suggest we enjoy our time together."

Toph raised her cup. "I'll drink to that."

Sokka turned to Zuko. "Tell me you've at least got more guards posted near where my kids are sleeping."

"It's been taken care of," Iroh and Zuko said in unison. Iroh continued: "Tonight, I plan on introducing them to a friend of mine who plays a mean game of Pai Sho."

Sokka frowned. "What does that have to do with protecting my kids?"

"More than you know, my boy, more than you know."

≅

It had been a very long day when Zuko and family finally sat down to dinner. The children bounded in full of stories about the obstacle course and how "totally awesome" Zuko's trainers were. Senzo prattled on and Siida insisted on sitting beside Tom-Tom, who continued eating blissfully unaware of the pair of round eyes that followed his every move. Sora cried when her mother slapped her little hand away from a third helping of cave-hoppers fried in honey, and Kurzu squirmed and made Zuko spill his drink. Katara laughed at them both. At one corner of the table, Ling began to teach Saya how to fold an artful paper fan. Iroh stared at them both with folded hands and fond eyes.

It was loud and it was messy and during the meat course, Sokka stood up and reeled a little and raised his fourth serving of ryu-nyuu and toasted Suki's latest pregnancy. Then there was yet another toast to Zuko's new son. And to Aang. And to the children, who were growing up so strong. Even the guards and servers applauded. (Zuko pulled one aside and said they were all to have a piece of almond tart in celebration of the day's many accomplishments -- Katara's fingers grazed his under the table and that alone sent desire coursing through him.)

For once, the royal dining hall felt full. He sat at a table with the world's most powerful benders. They were his loyal compatriots, his family of heroes. None of them knew what tomorrow would bring, but for the moment nothing could tear them apart. Not even fear. _Take that, you bastards. _

≅


	17. Chapter 16

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Fandomme**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of Nickelodeon and VIACOM. No profit is made by this story.**

**Notes: I want to thank everyone who has stuck with me this far. In particular, I want to thank my reviewers and everyone who has added this story to Favorites and Alerts, especially the lurkers who came out to review! I love hearing from you guys, so let me know what you think!**

≅

The day would not seem to end. Had it really only been that morning that Sokka had stormed into the nursery, sword drawn, accusing Zuko of siring a bastard with Katara at Aang's cremation? The moment felt as though it had happened years ago. Now he sat in his office and Xiao Zhi stood in the very spot that Jun had vacated only hours earlier. Iroh took his usual place beside the teapot to Zuko's right. The old man looked somehow revived by the family dinner. His smile was even pleasant; one would never know that they were discussing the possibility of a well-funded, silent insurrection within the Fire Nation.

Zuko steepled his fingers. He looked at Xiao Zhi. "Well?"

"The bounty hunter knows she's being followed."

_Of course she does. It's never that easy. _"How?"

"We suspect her shirshui recognized a scent, my Lord." Xiao Zhi blinked twice. "If some citizens of Tetsushi are in fact involved in a plot against you, they could have stolen samples of cloth and armor from your retinue while you were in the village. She could have trained the animal to sniff out certain fragrances: clove oil, the household soap. It is common for my men to bathe and treat their weapons while still on palace grounds."

"I am familiar with the shirshui's talents, Xiao Zhi," he said, thinking briefly of a blind beast and a necklace. He sighed. "What were her movements before she was aware of being followed?"

"Frightened, my Lord. Erratic."

Zuko frowned and looked at his uncle in the corner of one eye. Jun? Frightened? Things were worse than he'd thought. "Frightened of what?"

"Most likely this message, my Lord." Xiao Zhi withdrew a scroll from one sleeve and handed it to Zuko. He unfurled it, squinted, and read: _"Midnight. We'll find you. Be ready." _A single stylized flame sat inside a black inverted triangle -- a symbol of Jun's visitors, perhaps.

"Are you certain this message isn't for me?"

"My Lord?"

"Nothing." Zuko rolled up the scroll and handed it to his uncle. Iroh read it, lifted two bushy eyebrows, and gave Zuko a look that said: _Don't even think about it._ Naturally, this meant that Zuko could do nothing but. "Has Jun seen this?"

"Yes, my Lord. We left behind a copy for her to find."

He nodded. "Good. Have you formulated a plan?"

"We will intercept the bounty hunter's visitors upon arrival, my Lord."

Zuko leaned back in his chair. "Now why does that sound too easy?"

Xiao Zhi and Iroh shared a tiny, proud smile. "Because it is, my Lord," the captain of the guard said. She adjusted her posture. "If Jun is smart, she will go to a public place for this meeting, hoping that her pursuers will make less of a scene. On the other hand, if she has misjudged them, the area will quickly become a battleground. With our men there, that means the possibility of a market square in flames."

Zuko watched his uncle idly walking a Pai Sho tile over his fingers. The White Lotus, of course. "Then we change the game," Zuko said. "I want Jun publicly arrested. Put her in stocks outside the tower."

Iroh clicked his tongue. "Oh, the tower…" He sighed. "That brings back memories…"

Zuko thought he caught Xiao Zhi rolling her eyes just a little. "And the charge, my Lord?"

Zuko smiled, just barely. "She called my son a name. Figure it out."

Xiao Zhi saluted. "It is done, my Lord."

The captain of the guard left, and in her wake Iroh rocked on his heels. "Your enemies are either very clever or very stupid, my nephew."

"They came to our city, uncle. They're stupid."

"I meant about the time of night, although your sentiment is not unappreciated," Iroh said, raising his teacup. "Surely midnight is not the best time for firebending."

His uncle had a point -- as usual. Perhaps Jun's visitors already knew that she had been to see the Fire Lord, and thus expected a horde of operatives whose threat they sought to diminish by arranging for a midnight meeting. _Perhaps they planned it this way all along._ But he had already changed one variable: he had moved the location, and he -- and his men -- knew the tower well. They wouldn't be caught by surprise the way they might in a twisted back alley. He had forced his enemies onto open ground. As for the firebending, he could dole out ryu-nyuu if necessary. Zuko already had enough burning through his system to keep his breath of fire alive until mid-morning the next day.

"I know that look, my nephew," Iroh said. "I don't like it."

Zuko stood. He pulled his cuffs straight. "I'm going to see my son, uncle."

Iroh smiled. "I hope he tires you out."

≅

With a puff of flame up the pneumatic pipe, the lock fell aside and Zuko pushed through the secret entrance to Katara's room. She lay in bed with a scroll across her lap. She looked up to find him stepping hesitantly into the room and said: "Are you here to continue our negotiations?"

_If only. _ He sighed and leaned against the secret panel, heard it click shut. His eyes locked onto Kurzu. The child sat on the floor playing with a miniature wooden version of a Water Tribe club. A boomerang of similar vintage sat discarded nearby. Zuko crossed to him and picked up the boomerang. It felt old and sported the teeth marks of who knew how many Water Tribe children. He guessed it was an old toy of Senzo's, possibly one of Sokka's too. "These are surprisingly lethal, young man. You'll have to be careful."

Kurzu turned around, blinked, and said: _"Thu-Thu!"_ He shook his tiny club in Zuko's direction.

"No," Katara said behind him. He heard her slide out of the sheets and pick her way across the trundle before settling down beside him. Her body still held its warmth from dinner; Zuko recalled her fingers tracing across his knuckles and suddenly the hairs on his neck seemed oddly alive. _"Da-ddy,"_ she was saying. She pointed at Zuko. _"Da-ddy." _

Kurzu's face crinkled as though Katara had said something funny. _"Thu-Thu."_

"It's a lost cause. He's rebelled against me already."

"Oh, shut up. He has not." Katara bumped him with her shoulder. She leaned against him. "Thank you for tonight."

"The screaming children? The constant threat?"

"I haven't had dinner with my family in years. I'd forgotten what it was like."

A stray thought unraveled within his memory. He frowned. "You said something about an ultimatum."

Katara snorted. "Oh, that. Turns out Sokka really likes you and he wants me to settle down and start pumping out loads of little 'princess ponytails' at the earliest possible opportunity."

"No, really, tell me what he said."

"I'm telling you. Princess Ponytails."

Zuko looked down at her. Katara wore the slightly-irritated look she always had when she was being painfully truthful. He blinked. "Clearly…" he said, swallowing past a dry throat, "clearly that passage leads to another world, where up is down and your brother doesn't hate the air I breathe."

Katara stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh, please. Sokka doesn't hate you. He doesn't care enough about you to hate you."

Zuko squeezed his eyes shut. He felt another headache coming. "That's just…beautiful."

"Okay, maybe that came out wrong. The point is that he doesn't hate you. He doesn't even know you that well. But you impressed him today. A lot. And that's really hard to do."

"I threatened his life."

"Like I said, you impressed him."

"I've endangered his wife and children."

"His mind will change. It always does. And you're protecting his wife and kids like they're your own. Again with the impressiveness."

The more time Katara spent with her brother, Zuko decided, the more they started to sound alike. He pinched the bridge of his nose. The weight of the day hung on him like wet clothes. He rolled his neck and each bone crunched loudly. He winced. _Never, ever fall asleep in the nursery again. _

"Sounds like you could use a healing session," Katara said.

"It's just soreness. I'll be fine. All I need is a shower and a nap."

She frowned. "A nap? Aren't you going to bed?"

He shook his head. "Xiao Zhi and her men are apprehending Jun the people tracking her later tonight. I want to be awake when that happens."

Katara slapped her forehead. "I totally forgot to ask! What did she say?"

Zuko shrugged. "Not more than I just told you. Jun received a message. We intercepted it. She's being arrested now; we'll lure her visitors to open ground and see what we can see."

"Did the message itself have any clues?"

He shrugged. "An insignia. A rather uninspired one, but it gives us something to go on." He stood. "We'll learn more soon enough. For now, I need to rest." Zuko leaned down and picked Kurzu up. "And you need your face washed," he said. "Let's go."

Once hidden behind a half-closed door, Zuko pocketed a bar of Katara's soap -- white ginger, the shirshui wouldn't recognize it -- and quickly wiped off Kurzu's face. _"Thu-Thu,"_ the child said, still clutching his toy club and trying to avoid the cloth in Zuko's hand. Zuko washed the child's face and hands, then carried him back to Katara. "Thanks for watching him."

She frowned. "You're leaving already?"

He kissed her forehead. "If I stay, I won't want sleep."

≅

His sleep was fitful. He couldn't seem to relax. Finally he got up and scrubbed himself off in the shower, first with a pumice and then with Katara's soap. It smelled like memories of sharing a tub with her and the child, and he had to switch the water to cold for just a moment.

The clothes he'd left hanging on the chair were gone when he emerged. So was his towel. Frowning, he pushed into the room to find Katara dressed in deep purple robes, fixing a straw hat and veil over her head. She turned and he saw red paint dancing across her lips and eyes, her face somehow older with the weight of legend on it.

She nodded at the clothes, mask, and twin blades waiting on his bed in a way that made Zuko feel even more naked than he already was. "I hope you didn't think you were going without me." She threw a towel at him.

He quickly tied it around himself. "Where is my son?"

"In the nursery with Iroh and the other kids. He's fine. Did you really think I'd like let you go alone?"

"I thought… I didn't know you knew I was going."

"Zuko, you stole my soap to fool the shirshui. I noticed it the moment I took a bath. It didn't take much guesswork after that."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. The remaining water on him slowly began to steam away. "I need you here. My son is here. My uncle is here. Your brother is here. His children are here."

Katara put her hands to her hips. "Don't you trust your uncle? What about Sokka and Suki and Toph? Don't you think they can protect the family?"

He sighed. "Of course I do. But you're the one I trust the most."

She smiled. "Thank you. But flattery will get you nowhere. I'm coming with you and that's final."

"Katara-"

"Zuko." She stepped closer. "Were you not listening this afternoon? All of me. All the time. Those are my terms." She took his hands. "If you want me to be Fire Lady, you have to remember that I was the Painted Lady first."

Her chin rose and as her head tipped backward he saw gold glimmering on her forehead. He quickly reached out and pushed the hat back from her head. There on her scalp was the circlet he'd given her twelve years ago -- a reward straight from the vault in the form of a piece rumored to have come from the original Painted Lady. "You kept it," he said.

"Of course I kept it. You gave it to me." She took the hat back and began re-affixing it to her head. "Zuko, I don't know if I've ever told you, but I _saw_ the Painted Lady. Her spirit, I mean. She appeared to me and thanked me for helping a Fire Nation village." She looked at his mask. "If the Fire Nation needs the Blue Spirit again, then it definitely needs the Painted Lady."

Zuko crossed to the mask and picked it up. "It's not your fight. Not yet."

Her fingers drifted over the hilt of each sword. "I've defended every home I've ever lived in, Zuko. This can't be any different."

He gave her a look that he hoped communicated the frayed, stretched feeling she was giving him. "I can't lose you."

She smiled a little ruefully under her veil. "And I can't be left behind." She laid her hands on his shoulders. "Don't tell me it ends here, Zuko."

He looked at her hands on him. They were good, strong hands, slender but steely, with enough power to stop his heart and rule the ocean. "It ends the day I die," he said. "Let me get dressed."

≅

Their flight through the city involved an old escape route of his through the palace -- funny, how some things never changed -- and his once-well-trod path up to the tower. Katara helped matters by shrouding their travels in fog. They arrived just before Xiao Zhi's operatives; Zuko guided them into a tree overlooking the paved yard outside the tower. From there they could see Jun's dark shape on the pale stones. She knelt before the stocks; if Zuko squinted he saw the word for "slander" hanging about her neck on an iron plaque. Apparently her shirshui had followed her scent; it lumbered from tree to tree before finally laying down at her feet. Xiao Zhi's agents, dressed as simple tower guards, quickly deployed in a pincer formation around the tower.

"Now we wait," he said under his breath. The mask made his words echo strangely in his ears. He had always done his best never to speak while wearing it.

"Does Xiao Zhi know you're here?"

"Probably. But she won't have told her men. She can't risk there being a traitor in the ranks."

"Is that a serious possibility?"

Slowly, he nodded. "If someone poisoned Kurzu, they did it from inside the house."

Beside him, Katara shuddered. "We'll find them," Zuko said. "They'll be punished. I'll-"

"Hey, look." Katara nodded at the courtyard. Far down the path, a group of hooded figures approached. Seeing them, Jun began to struggle inside the stocks. The shirshui rose to its feet and circled her, its mighty tail twitching. _It knows their scent. _Zuko watched his men take an almost imperceptible step forward. He leaned down, gloved hands clenched on the tree's trunk and the branch that supported his weight. He remembered his old lightness and stopped moving just before the wood creaked. A single figure stepped forward and knelt before Jun. He was dressed in the simpler robes of a fire sage neophyte, one who might care for the poor. He wet a rag in a small bowl of water and applied it to Jun's face. The woman turned her face this way and that, and spat at him.

"Get away from me! I'm done with you! I didn't do what you asked, so just kill me!"

One of Xiao Zhi's men stepped forward. "Is this gentleman giving you trouble, prisoner?"

"Yes! I want him gone! Get rid of-

_"HEY!"_

Zuko's eyes tracked in the direction of the shout. A clot of his men had simply vanished. His eyes roved wildly, but they were nowhere. The other guards, visibly shaken, broke ranks and began casting their eyes anywhere but at Jun. _No. No, no, no. This isn't happening. Not when we're this close!_

"Help me!" Jun was shrieking. "Somebody help me!" Her shirshui went wild, swinging its tail into the crowd. A smoke bomb went off and the creature reared up and roared its displeasure; Zuko smelled pepper and his eyes began to water.

"Damn it-"

"I'm on it," Katara said beside him, and a wave of fog cut through the smoke, dispersing it in two waves. But the clear air exposed something even worse. More of his men had disappeared _-- where in Koh's great cave did they go? why didn't they make a sound? -- _and the intruders hacked at Jun's chains. The bounty hunter screamed and writhed, trying to fight with blind, watering eyes -- just as furious as her sightless animal companion.

"Get away from me! Get away from me!"

"Stay here," Zuko said, unsheathing his swords.

"Zuko-"

But he was already on the ground, whirling, aiming for the one that Jun feared the most. His men, what few remained that weren't clawing uselessly at their eyes, rushed to help him. The prison alarm went off; a dull clanging high above his head. Inside, he heard the din of shouting prisoners. Someone came at him with a hatchet; he wove away and slit the man across the belly. Hot blood was on his shoes, he moved through it, ducking, slicing, defending. The mask protected his eyes but only a little; already his vision blurred. He blinked hard. His prey kept moving, kept shuffling just outside his reach through groups of larger, tougher men who carried shovels in their long, tattered sleeves. _One of those to head and you're dead, Zu-Zu._ He aimed for the handles, tried slicing them in half. One blade stuck. He tried wrenching it away but the other man grabbed his arm, grinned, started to squeeze-

-and froze, just before a look of supreme terror crossed his bearded face. His limbs stiffened and locked. Trembling and sweating, he let Zuko go. His shovel rose. "Help me! Help me, I can't stop!" He began swinging at his compatriots. Their hoods went dark and wet the moment the shovel connected. _"Help me! Help me! I can't stop it!"_

Around him, hooded men began to writhe and screech, their bodies twisting as they formed a defensive wall of unwilling flesh around Zuko and Jun. He looked up and saw Katara on her branch, a vision of the Painted Lady, her fingers plucking the air like a puppetmaster. _May the sages bless that woman and forever keep her name on their lips. _Grinning, he turned-

-and saw a second smile open up on Jun's scarred throat where someone had slit it wide open. Blood bubbled out and she gurgled pathetically. He was vaguely aware of someone shouting -- him -- and another presence, his prey -- _how did he appear so quickly?_ -- trying to shuffle away. Zuko reached out with the swords, made a claw that drew the other man backward. He pinned the other man to the ground. A hand armed with a dagger came up; Zuko saw it flash and wrestled it away. As he did, he noticed the age in the hand, the liver spots and puffy blue veins. He squeezed the wrist and the other man yelped in protest, started to arch and convulse, clawing at his left arm. The dagger dropped. His hood fell-

-and revealed Yun Zi, the man behind the Society for Justice in Learning.

Zuko ripped his mask off. "What are you doing here?" Zuko asked, shaking him.

"Too late…" Yun Zi said, wheezing.

"Why did you kill Jun? What didn't she do? Did she betray you?"

His brow beaded with sweat, Yun Zi shook his head. "Too late…"

"What's too late? What's going on? Tell me now!"

A wry smile bent the old man's features. Cold rippled across Zuko's skin. The old man gestured him closer. Zuko leaned down, his eyes on the dagger. "_You're_ too late…" Yun Zi rasped. "The plan is...already in motion…"

A terrible, dry laugh warmed Zuko's cheek. Zuko sat up. Eyes dancing through the pain, Yun Zi continued laughing. "Too late," he whispered, coughing. "Failsafe…" His body seized. Fingers clutched his heart. He arched up off the ground once and stopped breathing. His eyes remained open, still crinkled with triumphant laughter. They stared lifelessly at Zuko.

Katara was running toward him. _You missed something, Zu-Zu._

Yun Zi. Why was it Yun Zi?

_Who is close to you?_

Katara said: "Yun Zi? But why?" He pulled the mask back down.

_Who do you trust?_

Yun Zi had said there were Fire Nation boys with nothing to do since the military schools stopped operating. He had sent numbers and charts and testimonials. He had sent-

_Who arrived just before the poisoning?_

Zuko's hands clenched on the swords. "Tom-Tom." He started running.

≅

Without Katara beside him he moved faster. But she gave chase and she tripped him up; she kept slicking the streets with ice that he slid down, skidding, heedless, just intent on his goal. His blades gave him traction as his feet slid out from under him. He used them to make a corner, then a jump, then he was on the rooftops. _Just let her try following you now, Zu-Zu._

Katara made the world foggy and he sliced through it. He knew this town better than she did. He followed the scent of the sea. He ran along the spine of his city. Tiles clattered down as he leapt from building to building; below him he heard Katara cursing. _All of me. All the time. _Well, it went both ways. _Can't be Daddy Zu-Zu all the time, can you? There's too much of Ozai in you._ He ran and birds and pygmy pumas skittered out of his way. One part of him -- the part that might have gone quietly mad in a corner years ago -- wondered how he must look. He imagined the Blue Spirit's hungry smile. He remembered how it had made Aang shout. That was a lifetime ago. _How could you possibly justify fighting a child?_

"Zuko, don't do this!"

But he just kept running. And so did Katara. He cleared the first palace perimeter and so did she, arcing through the air on a ribbon of ice that became a whip that knocked him to his feet. Grunting, he pushed up from the ground and ran through his own gardens like a thief. His breath puffed around him in the mask. _My son. My son. Tom-Tom the traitor is in the same house as my son. And my uncle. And my nephew. And my nieces. _He ran and he saw Iroh, saw lightning crackling from the old man's fingers as he redirected Azula's firepower, saw the Dragon of the West and a cone of flame erupting from the old man's mouth, heard the old words that once embarrassed and pleased him in equal measure: _I love you as my own. _Heard them and knew what they meant, for the first time.

He ran.

"Zuko, no!"

They were in his mother's garden, now, just steps away from where he needed to be. His fingers itched. The swords seemed to reach out of their own accord, divining rods, they pointed to where Tom-Tom slept _-- the Fire Nation still does not suffer weak links in the chain --_ but then his whole body locked and he fell, groaning, into the grass.

Bloodbending. He might have known. Behind him, he heard Katara panting. Breath rattled in her throat. She coughed and spat. "You can't do this," she said through gasps. "You don't…have to do this."

"Let me go, Katara."

"No. I won't." She coughed again. "You don't know…what you're doing."

"Yes. I do." He tried wriggling but only his fingers and toes and tongue would move. It was like being wrapped in a spider's silk. "Let me go, damn it!"

"No." She fell to her knees. He heard it and felt it in the ground. "No."

"He's in there with my son! He's in there with your family!"

"You can't keep doing this. You can't keep running off."

"Don't you dare presume to lecture me! And don't turn this into something about us! This is about my son!" He suppressed a scream of frustration. Fire pushed past his teeth. _"I've held back all day! _This morning and this afternoon when you and he were threatened I _held back!_ And now he's _right there_-"

"Zuko, I'm tired…" He heard her stand. He caught sight of purple robes fluttering as she wavered on her feet. "I can't hold you much longer."

"_Good_. Let me_ go._ Let me do what I have to do."

He watched her feet cross in front of him. She now stood between him and the door. "If I do, you'll have to fight me." Her breath had calmed. "Can you do that, Zuko? Can you fight your way through me?"

He shut his eyes. "Don't make me do that."

The invisible bonds coiled about him loosened gently. He heard her hat fall lightly to the grass. "Put the swords away," she said. "Fight me like you used to."

Slowly, he rose to his feet. He set the swords down. He pulled the mask away and tossed it to one side near her hat. Her hair had gone curly with sweat. Her makeup had run. The golden circlet still glittered on her scalp and forehead. She shrugged off the outermost robe. She assumed a bending posture.

"I love you," Zuko said. "Don't make me do this."

In answer, she merely uncorked her double waterskins. Twin serpents of water hovered near her hands. Taking a deep breath, he summoned two blades of flame, and waited. She moved first. The whips went straight for his face -- she wasted no time -- and he ducked down, rushed her, leapt high in the air and let flame follow his kick. She pushed a tide of water -- much more now, and he smelled the pond in it, clever woman, she'd taken advantage of his time in the air -- and he fell backward onto the grass. He popped back up and fired punches at her as he ran; she batted them away with a penta-pus.

"Why are you doing this?" She slid water beneath him; it sprang up and enveloped him, he couldn't breathe and then he was flying, upside down, hurtling toward the turtle-duck pond. Just before his head connected with the mud she let him go and he balled up tight. He splashed down and mud went in his mouth and then it was cold, so very, very cold and he was climbing, she raised him up on a pillar of glittering spikes, like old times: "Sweetness," he said through chattering teeth, "you _remembered._"

"Damn it, Zuko, you're really stupid sometimes," Katara said, shearing the ice apart. It crackled under the pressure. Zuko slid free of the ice but heard it needling down through the air above him -- he found himself oddly reminded of Mai -- and soon he was locked up tight again. He shot fire straight from his mouth and shattered free. Then two fire-whips were in his hands and he made her jump, broke her root, but she hopped on a disc of ice and made straight for him -- arcing upward on a tongue of ice that became a vortex of water. She was tall, the center of a cyclone, he stood there dizzied by it until it was too late and she came crashing down over him, soaking him, her weight in all the crucial spots and her two fingers pressed up into his throat: "We could take him _together_, Zuko," she said through clenched teeth. "If he's the traitor you think he is then he _expects_ you tonight. But tomorrow? When things have quieted down? During sparring practice with the Avatar's widow, when he thinks he still has your trust?"

His breath came too fast. He began to see stars. "Toph could…"

"Right, Zuko. Toph could." She leaned down and her eyes sparkled in his vision. "If this is about family, Zuko, then let's keep it in the family." Her lips hardened. "Tomorrow we give Tom-Tom the fight of his life."

Zuko sat up. Stars followed him. "You would have fought me just to keep me from acting too hastily."

"Not would have. Did. I _did_ fight you to keep you from acting too hastily." She ran hands over him. They trailed into interesting places. "No permanent damage, I hope?"

"Nothing important." He spat out mud. "We may yet have more children. Provided you let me live that long."

"Ha ha, very funny. Let's go see Kurzu."

That thought alone gave him more energy, and he rolled to his feet. He picked up the mask and the swords, offered Katara her hat and robe, and they strode back into his palace covered in blood, grass, and mud. The guards gave them raised eyebrows and tight-lipped smiles -- _dear sages, the rumors this night will start_ -- as they made their damp, dirty way to the nursery. The guards outside the room gave them the once-over, but Zuko simply blew fire up the pneumatic tubes in the proper combination, and unlocked the door.

Inside, Iroh and Master Sho sat at a Pai Sho table. Sho smoked from a gold filigree water-pipe with a cake of sweet orchid tobacco slowly blackening at the top. He rose and saluted. "Good evening, my Lord. Or, considering the hour, good morning." He bowed to Katara. "My Lady."

"Master Sho?"

"He puts the Sho in Pai Sho, nephew," Iroh said, rubbing his eyes with the ball of one hand. He smiled. "Did you two have fun on your date?"

"We'll discuss it later. For now, I want a watch put on Tom-Tom. Where is Kurzu?"

"Asleep. If you want-"

"No, I'll get him." Zuko moved past the beds trying to make as little noise as possible, but Senzo sat up suddenly.

"Uncle Zuko," the boy said. He squinted in the dimness. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine, nephew. Go back to sleep."

"Are you and Uncle Aang taking us on the dragon today?"

He almost asked _What dragon?_ But the boy was clearly talking in his sleep. "Not today," he said.

"Uncle Aang said there would be dragons," Senzo said, lying back down. "I want dragons."

"I'll do my best," Zuko said.

"Okay…" Senzo fell asleep with his face firmly planted in the pillow. Zuko moved on. Kurzu lay asleep on his own bed, and stirred only a little when Zuko picked him up. He felt perfectly normal: no fever, no chill, lungs clear, not even a runny nose. Zuko wrapped him in a blanket and carried him off.

"Uncle. I'm taking him for the night."

Iroh smiled up at him pleasantly. Something seemed to glitter near his eyes. "You called him 'nephew,'" he said. "You called your nephew 'nephew.'"

Zuko adjusted his uncle's collar. He tugged dry, silvery hairs free of it and smoothed them down. "Of course I did." He hitched the baby higher on his arm, and left the room. He mouthed _Bed? _to Katara and she answered _Please._ This time he simply followed her to her room: no secret passages, no tricks. The women at the door parted to let them through without even a second glance, and he locked the door behind them with his own breath.

≅

_A tickle across his nose. Her hair. White ginger and sweat and the smell of summer storms on her skin. He inhales, she inhales. In, out. In, out. His son's breathing, too. He sees them without opening his eyes -- so this is how Toph does it -- sees his wife's necklace on the stand beside the bed, sees a hand reaching to pick it up. Long, familiar fingers scratching blue stone. It dangles. It glimmers. Laughter. Growing, rasping, mocking laughter. He freezes._

_"Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it." _

_He sees the face, the long hair, the crown, the beard, the blue stone hanging where the left eye should be: Ozai pulls it away and he sees the terrible wound, the scar, his own face, his own ruined face; there's a blue glow and Ozai's smile and the crackle of lightning-_

_"NO!"_ Zuko sat up and fire came with him. His left arm made an arc of flame across the bed. It dissolved into pre-dawn shadow. No one sat there. Ozai was dead. Zuko felt for his own chin -- cleanshaven as ever, aside from stubble. Katara put a hand on him and he jolted.

"It was just a dream," she said as Kurzu began to cry.

Zuko looked down at his son in horror. _You just shot fire over your own son's head. Over your son's face. _He started shaking. Mute, his vision blurred, he gathered Kurzu in his arms as the child wailed. _You could have scarred him. _Kurzu's tears smeared across Zuko's bare skin. The child roared into his neck. Zuko couldn't see, suddenly. Everything had gone wet and indistinct and his throat had closed; his knees came up and he made a ball of limbs around his son. He rocked and his son shrieked.

"Don't be scared," he heard himself saying. "Don't be scared. I didn't mean to…" _I didn't mean to. Dear sages, I promise I didn't mean to._ "I'd never…" He couldn't speak, couldn't breathe. He kissed his son's scalp. "I _love_ you. I would _never..._ I'm not like that, I promise, I'll never be like that-"

"Zuko." He looked up and Katara was staring at him, head tilted, a few flakes of red paint still at her hairline. She held her arms out and he moved and she moved and all three of them were a tangle of arms and shoulders. "It's okay," she said in his ear. "It'll be okay."

"It's _not_," he insisted. "I could have _hurt_ him." He choked. "I could have hurt _you._ Katara, I _fought_ you tonight. I-I.. I left you behind with those monsters, I just _left_ you there! They could have killed you and I just _ran away!"_

"Ssh. Calm down. Deep breaths."

"I can't do this. I was a fool to think I could. I wanted this so badly and I thought I could make it work but I can't. He's in me, he'll always be in me, he'll make me hurt you-"

_"Zuko."_ Katara pulled away. Her fingers lifted his face and turned it toward hers. Her eyes were flint. "The only way Ozai can hurt any of us is if you believe his lies about who you are. He's dead now. He's finished. He has been for twelve years." Her fingers traced the scar. "The fight is over. You won."

His own voice was so small he wanted to hide his face: "I shot fire at you. I love you and I shot fire at you-"

"And I whipped you, Zuko. Don't forget. I can take you any day of the week, whether we're sharing a bed or not." She smiled ruefully. Her hand moved into his hair. "Don't you know that you only got to fight me because I let you? If I wanted to, I could have burst a blood vessel in your brain and ended it all right there."

_She's got you there, Zu-Zu. _He smiled. "Now who sounds like Azula?"

Katara rolled her eyes. "Azula. Please. Don't make me laugh." She looked over at the nightstand and picked up her golden circlet. "I'm the Painted Lady, remember? She protects the Fire Nation. That includes the Fire Lord."

He frowned. "Where is your other necklace?"

Katara reached under the bed and withdrew a scroll. The rather racy title immediately piqued Zuko's interest: "Bedtime reading?"

She stuck her tongue out at him and began unrolling the scroll. Inside was her necklace, rolled up between sheets of vellum. "I got lonely," she said, handing him the necklace.

Zuko lay down with the child, still sniffling, on his stomach. "You poor thing," he said, dangling the necklace before his son's eyes. Kurzu immediately quieted and reached for it. Zuko looked at her in the corner of one eye. "Had to make your own fun, didn't you?"

She settled down beside him. "I'm sure a long-time bachelor like you knows all about it."

"You're cruel," he said, eyes drifting closed.

She burrowed into his shoulder and curled an arm over him and his son. "You like it. Don't act like you don't."

"I _love _it." Eyes shut, he smiled. "In my dream, you were mine."

"I'm here now, aren't I?"

"Yes. Thank the sages." His other hand, the one not holding his son, found her hair. "Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow we start cleaning house."

≅

**Note: Whew! Long chapter! Thanks for sticking with me through this one. Let me know what you think!**


	18. Chapter 17

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Fandomme**

**Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to help heal the victims of an epidemic spreading throughout the Fire Nation.**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of VIACOM and Nickelodeon. No profit is made by this story.**

**Notes: **

≅

Dull soreness radiated up Zuko's legs and arms the next day. It was a pleasantly familiar sensation: it seemed that most of his physical interaction with Katara --martial or otherwise -- meant stretching himself to his limits. Smiling without opening his eyes, he turned over and burrowed in closer. He slid an arm over her and molded himself around her body. His nose brushed soft leather. Katara had re-fastened the necklace. He kissed her neck and pulled her tighter.

Under the covers, she enlaced their fingers. "What are you smiling about?"

"Good morning to you too, Painted Lady."

"Quiet, you'll wake him."

Zuko blinked, pinched his nose, and propped himself up on an elbow. Kurzu lay beside Katara with legs and arms splayed in the cardinal directions. A warm feeling welled up in Zuko's chest. The utterly fragility of the moment struck him. Kurzu seemed so small. Katara was already fading back into sleep. _This is mine to protect. I can't fail. Otherwise I'll become something I'm not._ For some reason, he thought of Aang. _You were a fool to reject this, Avatar. A great man and a greater friend, but a fool nonetheless. _ His hand came down and adjusted Kurzu's collar. The child was warm and alive under his fingers, like a messenger hawk awaiting a new scroll. Zuko pushed Katara's hair away from her face and examined it. Small bits of red paint still clung to her hairline. He wound a curl around one finger.

"What's wrong?" she murmured, eyes still closed.

Zuko settled down beside her. He made his voice a whisper. "Twelve years ago, if someone had told me I would spend even one morning waking up beside you and my adopted son, I would have pushed them off Appa's saddle."

"You were never an optimist."

"Not really, no."

She rolled over and met his eyes. "Were you really in love with me back then?"

"I thought so. I wanted to impress you. I've only ever wanted to impress the people closest to me." He traced the line of her necklace and played idly with the Water Tribe pendant. "I wanted you to forgive me."

"Meanwhile, I had very unladylike suspicions about you."

He rolled to his back. "That's all right. I had very ungentlemanly thoughts about you, too."

A pause, then Katara hove into his vision. Her eyebrow twitched. "What sort of ungentlemanly thoughts?"

"Thoughts unbefitting the crown prince of the Fire Nation." He smirked. "I was a young man, you know."

She sat up and crossed her arms. "A young pervert, you mean."

"I love when you cross your arms. I always have."

Katara looked down at herself, pinked, and uncrossed her arms. She leaned over him, each fist sinking into the pillows beside his head. "You never give up, do you?"

Zuko peered down her shift. "Not often."

"Hey. Eyes up here. What's gotten into you? We have a big day ahead!"

"I think it's the bending," he said, grabbing her hips and tugging her over him. She suppressed a little shriek in his neck. He rolled over so he had her pinned. She wriggled, lithe and strong and nimble as a dragon. "You don't know what your bending used to do to me. Honestly. You wouldn't have fought so hard if you did."

Her eyebrow arched. "Oh, really? And what should I have done instead?"

He murmured in her ear. "You should have let me save you from the pirates."

A little shiver went through her. He grinned. "Never," Katara said, and her breath trailed down the delicate skin of his good ear.

"That was the first time I touched a girl, you know," he said. He gripped a wrist and kissed its interior. "These wrists. You skin was so cold. You were shivering. I thought you must be sick."

"Didn't stop you from tying me to a tree, though," she said, her eyes locked onto the sight of him kissing into her palm, the ball of her hand. She still tasted of salt.

"Then later, under Ba Sing Se," he said, "these two little fingers," he kissed them, "touched me and I thought my heart had stopped."

Her hand came up to touch the scar. Her fingers gripped his hair. "I just wanted to help…"

"I would have given you anything," he said, looking into her clear eyes with his mismatched ones. "I was yours completely for just that moment. And it terrified me."

Comprehension dawned slowly on her features. "I didn't know…"

"And you kept that power over me later. You made me sweat. I couldn't lie to you. I hated it." He smiled. "So in my dreams, I had my revenge."

Katara grinned. "Let me guess. I was just some poor damsel in distress, and you had to save me with your special firebending powers?"

His face heating, he turned his attention to her neck. "You know me too well."

Katara arched up under him. "And I'll bet I was ever so grateful, wasn't I?"

He slid a hand up her shift. "Abundantly."

"You're filthy."

"Maybe you should help me clean up," he said, lifting her off the bed and carrying her toward the bathtub. Her legs curled around him -- he loved her heels digging into his back -- and they bumped into a wall, kissing, and there was the bathtub but first there was the floor, a pile of towels beneath and her over him as water thundered into the tub. Then later, there was her in his lap and the water swirling around them, her hair in his hands and the momentary glow that diminished their mutual soreness. And finally her almost asleep again, slumped against his chest in the water; he held her upright against him now: "You did save me."

Zuko laid his cheek on her damp hair. He had missed this profoundly. "I did? When?"

"You got the anti-venom for me, when the weasel-snake bit me. You just never said so." She elbowed him in the ribs. "Don't you know that's when you're supposed to take the credit so the girl can show her gratitude?"

"You wouldn't have thanked me. You would have scolded me for running off."

"Well, maybe, but you still should have said something." She yawned and pulled his arms tighter around herself, like the sleeves of a long coat. "Think of how different our lives could have been, if you'd just spoken up."

"Yes, you would have rejected me for good and I wouldn't have had this chance now."

"You don't know that for sure! And even if that did happen, maybe you would have moved on to someone better!"

"Sweetness, please. Let's be realistic."

Katara turned to face him. "I'm just saying that I think it would have changed things." She looked at the water. "I'm trying to say that I like this, and I wish we'd had it earlier."

"Which? The part where your relationship with me constantly endangers you, or the part where you browbeat me into accepting it?"

She flicked her wrist and a small wave came up to splash his face. "I like the sex, Zuko," she said, as though explaining things to a two-year-old. "And I like this part, too."

He spat. "The part where you get soap in my eyes?"

"The after-part! Stop being so difficult! I'm trying to say that I missed you!"

He leaned forward. "Come again?"

Katara hugged her knees and stared at the water. "I missed you." She scowled. "You don't have to look so smug about it."

"I'm not smug, I'm happy."

Her head tilted and she offered him one of her soft smiles, and a sigh. "I hope you hold on to that feeling," she said. "We have a fight to plan."

Zuko kissed her. "Tea first. Then strategy."

≅

They planned Tom-Tom's "training session" for the afternoon. At lunch, Katara asked the boy very sweetly to meet her on the training grounds, claiming that her bending was in disuse. (Toph had promptly suppressed a snicker.) In the meantime, Zuko debriefed both Iroh and Xiao Zhi. He met them in his office. Despite the matter at hand, Iroh could not contain his glee. He rocked on his heels as they waited for the captain of the guard.

"We missed you at breakfast this morning, nephew."

Zuko gave his uncle what he hoped was a quelling look. "I apologize, Uncle. I was busy."

Iroh's eyes danced. "Was Lady Katara similarly detained?"

If his smile had been happy earlier, it took a decidedly smug turn, now. "I'm sure she would tell you that's none of your business, Uncle."

"Did you at least get enough to eat? Some hot, dark, strong-"

"Uncle!"

"-_tea_ can help start the day off right."

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose. At that moment, Xiao Zhi strode into the room with her lieutenant. They saluted, and Zuko offered his own brief salute. His face hardened. "Tell me what you know."

Xiao Zhi held out another copy of the message left for Jun. "The insignia belongs to a group called the Funshutsu. They're less active in the capitol, but some of our friends have heard of them in the outlying areas, especially the ports."

"Why have they never been investigated before?"

"They have, by our local operatives. But until this point they have masqueraded as a type of social club. The Funshutsu seems to have begun as a charitable organization for veterans of the war and their families. Mostly, they advocate a return to traditional Fire Nation ways." Her deep-set eyes narrowed and the lines surrounding them deepened. "Whoever they are, they know how to avoid suspicion."

"Good deeds do not always mean good intentions," Iroh said. "How can they afford such charity?"

Xiao Zhi favored the old man with one of her rare, tight smiles. "It seems that each chapter has a founding member who is especially well-off. In Tetsushi, that man was-"

"-Tizo, the overseer," Zuko said, closing his eyes. He resisted the urge to let his face fall into his hands.

"Quite right, my Lord," Xiao Zhi said, clearing her throat.

"Tell me you've found him," Zuko said. "We dispatched agents. Where is he?"

"We have heard nothing about his or the agents' whereabouts, my Lord."

"You haven't _heard_ anything? What, are you just waiting for them to contact you? Aren't they under explicit instructions to-"

"They are, my Lord," Xiao Zhi said in a soft, somber voice. Only her quiet tone betrayed her worry. "Our last dragon-hawk returned to us with message undelivered."

Zuko felt a pit of dread stretch open in his chest. _This is really happening. It's not an isolated incident. They're making a move. And you don't even know who they are._ He swallowed. "Have you discovered a central authority within the Funshutsu?"

"Not yet, my Lord."

Zuko just barely defied the temptation to blast his teapot into oblivion. As though reading his mind, Iroh quickly grabbed the pot and poured another cup. He directed his next question to Xiao Zhi. "What was their connection to Jun, or to Yun Zi?"

Zuko frowned and looked at his uncle. "How did you know about Yun Zi?"

Iroh smiled over the edge of his tea cup. "Like you, nephew, I had a rather busy morning."

He could take his uncle's statement one of two ways: first, that the old man had spent the early hours researching Xiao Zhi's reports; second, that he had enjoyed a morning not unlike Zuko's, wherein he quite literally pumped Xiao Zhi -- or a younger, sweeter court guard -- for information. Zuko chose to believe the former, if only for his own peace of mind. Xiao Zhi spoke: "One of our regular informants from within the pleasure quarter told us that she witnessed Yun Zi and the bounty hunter meet at least twice this week in the same location, a watering hole called the Blue Sparrowkeet. Each time, they disappeared into a wine cellar together."

His good eye narrowed. "What's down there?"

"Wine, or so says our informant."

"How trustworthy is the informant?"

"Exceptionally so. She's been ours since childhood."

Zuko winced. He hated the idea of children working for a living. He hated the idea of them working in the pleasure quarter of his capitol. He pinched the bridge of his nose and fought an unsettling wave of nausea. "Is she at least well-rewarded?"

"Quite well, my Lord."

He sighed. He steepled his fingers and prepared himself for what he had to say. "Yun Zi mentioned a failsafe. He spoke of a plan already in motion. He also brought Tom-Tom to this house, the night before my son fell ill -- an illness that Jun implied wasn't a coincidence." Zuko lifted his eyes. "If I send him from this house, will he run to the Funshutsu?"

"Not if he's got a shred of sense, my Lord."

"Can I send him from this house?"

Xiao Zhi's eyes flicked to Iroh. The old man sighed, but his posture remained firm. "His parents still hold some sway among the displaced governors," he said. "Yun Zi may have been using him as a puppet to gain your trust; they may use him again to turn public opinion against you. You must be cautious."

"Tell me something I don't know."

"My Lord, if I may," Xiao Zhi said, shifting weight, "we investigated Tom-Tom after you allowed him to stay in the house. The boy is impressionable. There is sentiment -- even here in the capitol -- that the Fire Nation should not forget what made it great." Her lips curled bitterly. "It is a beaten country licking its wounds. But there is a generation of boys who never knew the war as we did, and as such still believe in the glory of it. Tom-Tom is old enough to believe the tales and not the truth."

Zuko's fingers collapsed. His knuckles whitened as his hands clenched. "We'll know soon enough."

≅

He waited until Katara had Tom-Tom working up a sweat. He watched, hidden under the eave of his own roof, as Sokka, Toph, and Ling drifted gradually onto the sidelines, spreading a blanket and opening a bottle of wine as they watched the session. His trainers looked up to Zuko's position on the roof, took note of his signal, and departed silently. Under a hazy blue sky, Katara sent her water-whips straight for Tom-Tom's feet. The boy had improved his reflexes; he dodged around the whips now while still firing volleys of his own. He even ran straight for Katara, but she spread a sheet of ice under his feet and he slipped. Landing on his back, his legs twisted upward and he popped back onto his feet with a little blast of flame. Katara summoned a tide and pushed him backward. He fell again. Tom-Tom was still no match for her, and likely never would be. His attacks were far too conventional, his defenses still too weak. Zuko did not recall Mai's being a bending family of any note -- Tom-Tom might have had little access to the resources necessary for honing his gift.

Not that it would encourage any undeserved mercy on Zuko's part. He jumped from the roof to the wall and hopped down. He drew his swords. "Let's make it more interesting," he said.

Tom-Tom turned. "Where did you come from?"

"Sometimes you have to fight a war on two fronts," Zuko said, raising his blades. "Your fire against Katara's water and my swords. Let's go."

"Hey, wait-"

"Too slow," Katara said, knocking him off his feet with a slap of water. Tom-Tom stumbled forward in the sand, close to Zuko's blades. When Zuko kept them firm, the color in Tom-Tom's face drained away. He backed up, swallowed, and summoned two fire-whips. Zuko nodded at Katara, and they began their onslaught.

Tom-Tom fought well for someone so clearly outclassed. He swung his firewhips -- his desperation made them longer, wilder -- like a spinning top, seeking to put more distance between himself and his attackers. Katara quickly sent a jet of water his way, froze him in place, then borrowed some water from a nearby reflecting pool. She froze him from his toes to his neck. Zuko was oddly reminded of the crawling crystal in the caves under Ba Sing Se. Tom-Tom turned to Sokka and Toph, panic in his voice: "Help me!"

Lazily propped on her elbows, Toph turned to Sokka. "Hear something, Snoozles?"

"Not a thing," Sokka said, and stared at the sky.

Tom-Tom struggled to free himself. The ice holding him began to fracture. "Why are you doing this?"

"I thought you wanted to bend like a grown-up," Zuko said. "I thought you wanted to be a hero."

Tom-Tom burst free. He started running, dodging Katara's ice-arrows. "What are you _talking_ about?"

Zuko brandished his swords. "I held back during the Agni Kai. Was that part of your plan? Did you think you could worm your way into my house by challenging me?"

"You're _crazy!_" Tom-Tom actually tried running behind Katara; she sent him riding an icy slide that deposited him back in Zuko's clutches. Zuko held Tom-Tom's neck delicately in the crux of his blades. Tom-Tom whimpered. "You're as crazy as your sister. Worse. I thought you were the sane one!"

Zuko tightened his grip on the blades. "It's so hard for me to be good," he said in Tom-Tom's ear. "I have to work very, very hard at it, and right now I'm very, very tired."

Tom-Tom surprised him with an elbow to the gut. Zuko released him out of reflex, and Tom-Tom began to run away toward the house. As he did, something bright descended upon him and he tripped almost comically. Zuko watched him struggle with invisible bonds. The boy was shrieking: "Get it off me! Get it off me!"

"Nice work, sugar," Toph said.

Zuko turned to Ling. Toph's lover stood with hands outstretched, plucking the air like a zither. Her shiny black hair, once long and full, now appeared short, with a tendril of hair to either side of her face and a glossy cap of it along her scalp. When Zuko squinted, he saw what had become of the long plait: it glistened in Ling's hands.

"That stuff," Sokka said, jerking a thumb at the wire, "is great for catching fish."

Katara stepped forward. "It's a net?"

"A net, a tripwire, a blade, whatever you like," Ling said calmly. "Shall I tighten my hold?"

"Not yet," Zuko said. "Your turn, Toph."

"Thought you'd never ask, Sparky."

Toph flexed her fingers, cracked her knuckles, and summoned a single giant fist from the earth beneath Tom-Tom's trembling body. She picked him up, net and all, and set him upright. Zuko sheathed his swords and crossed to the fist. Tom-Tom was sweating. "What is going on?" the boy asked.

"I'll ask the questions," Zuko said. "What is your connection to the Funshutsu?"

Confused disbelief crossed Tom-Tom's face. "The _Funshutsu?_ Why would you-"

"Tell him, Tom-Tom," Katara said. "Make it easy on yourself."

"And don't bother lying," Toph said. The fist squeezed.

"I'll tell you!" Tom-Tom's eyes roved the group. "It's a group my parents belong to. It's a bunch of old people who talk about the war. That's how I met Yun Zi."

"Yun Zi's dead, Tom-Tom."

"What? How? When? What happened?"

Zuko gave only the barest hint of a smile. Real terror filled Tom-Tom's eyes. "You're insane-"

"Did Yun Zi send you here to kill me?"

Tom-Tom's mouth fell open. _"What?"_

"Yun Zi. The Funshutsu. Tetsushi. _My child._ They're all connected. Tell me how."

"I don't _know_ how!"

Zuko looked to Toph. "He doesn't know," Toph said, shaking her head.

"You're sure."

"I'm sure. He's scared, but he's telling the truth. I've had a baseline on him for days now."

Zuko turned to Tom-Tom. He stepped forward so that they were mere inches apart. "Last night Yun Zi slashed the throat of a woman who implicated you in the poisoning of my son. Why would he do that if he had no secret to protect?"

"I don't know why he would kill _anyone_. He seemed like such a nice old man! He was friends with my parents!"

"For how long?" Katara asked, folding her arms and striding forward. "Before you were born? After?"

"After," Tom-Tom said. "It was after the war ended. I don't know how they met, but it was after the war."

"Where was Yun Zi from?"

"I don't know! He mentioned the colonies; that could be anywhere!"

Zuko sighed steam. His eyes lifted to meet Tom-Tom's. The boy's eyes were rimmed with sweat and tears. "I'm going to ask you this just once," he said. "And if you lie, you're done. Permanently."

Tom-Tom quailed. "All I've gotta do is squeeze, kid," Toph said softly. "Make this good."

Zuko hated how quiet his voice had gone. "Did you poison my son?"

Tom-Tom shook his head. "No!"

"Toph?"

"He's telling the truth."

"Are you here to kill me?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Still truthful," Toph said.

"Are you here to commit any acts of treason?"

Tom-Tom swallowed. "I promise I'm not," he said. When Zuko didn't withdraw, he started blathering. "Do I think some things are wrong with the Fire Nation? Yes. Am I angry that you care more about these heroes from another country than the boys in your own? Yes. But I would never stoop so low as to hurt a _baby._" He looked at the training field. "You know how lackluster a bender I am. Would anyone really trust me to take you out?"

"Got a point, there," Sokka said, examining his wine cup in the light.

Zuko looked to Toph. "Well?"

"He's telling the truth. A hundred percent." She shrugged. "Do I let him go, now?"

"Not yet." Zuko put his hand to Tom-Tom's damp face. The boy flinched away. "Do you understand that what has happened here is the fate of anyone who challenges this family?"

Tom-Tom shut his eyes. "Yes."

"Do you understand that this family includes you, and that anyone who threatens you will suffer the same or worse?" Tom-Tom's eyes opened, but he said nothing. Zuko shifted weight. _Aang, if you're listening, please help._ "Do you understand that if my life had been different, that if I had made different choices, if _Ozai_ had made different choices, that your sister and I could have had a son almost your age, or adopted you ourselves?"

Tom-Tom looked away. "Mom and Dad say you never cared that much."

"They're wrong. Your sister did everything she could to make me happy. But my whole life changed the day I got this." He turned so that Tom-Tom could see the full scar. "I'm trying as hard as I possibly can not to become the man who did this to me. But every time I think of someone hurting you, my child, or this family, my resolve starts to weaken."

Tom-Tom's eyes popped. "And that gives you license to terrorize people?"

"No. But it reminds me of why I need you here -- to keep asking those questions." Zuko nodded at Toph. "Let him go."

The fist crumbled away to a mound of earth and stones, and with a snap the netting that surrounded Tom-Tom twisted in the air and returned to Ling's hands in a single black coil. Tom-Tom fell to his knees, shaking. He stared at Zuko's shoes. Zuko knelt down. He reached for the boy: "Don't touch me."

Zuko retracted his hand and pinched his nose. "I know you probably want to leave. You have every right. And if you want to go, I won't stop you. But I want you to think about just one thing, first." He swallowed. "When I challenged my father, he banished me. But when you challenged me, I invited you to stay." He gestured at the training ground. Katara's ice had already begun to melt. "Everyone here was once my enemy. Remember that."

He stood, nodded to the others, and left the grounds. Sokka, Toph, and Ling walked on ahead. Zuko caught part of the conversation: "So, uh, say you were building a playpen…"

They mounted the steps back to the house, but Katara strayed at the landing and watched her brother and friends go on ahead. Zuko turned. Katara's eyes had welled with tears. As she blinked, one of them rolled down her face. "What's wrong?" He looked to the training ground and Tom-Tom's still-kneeling form. "I tried not to hurt him-"

"I love you," Katara said in a rough but firm voice. Her blue eyes found his. "I think I really love you." She managed to look away. "I've been trying to-"

But he'd already pulled her to him. The kiss was softer than he'd intended it to be, and tasted of salt. A blaze of color lit inside him like two flames twisted about one another, like two dragons dancing. He held her face in his hands and kissed her forehead, leaned his own against it. "Marry me."

_"What?"_

"Today. Before dinner. Your family is here. My family is here. Sho can prepare the documents in an hour. There's nothing to stop us."

Katara backed away. "Nothing except the Funshutsu," she said. "And the orphanage, and the fact that I'm not Fire Nation _or_ royalty, and my not having a necklace..." She counted each item off on her hand.

"My son is Water Tribe and his mother will be, too! And your necklace is in the vault!"

Her eyebrows rose. She folded her arms and gave him an appraising look. "Oh really, now? For how long?"

"Too long." Zuko reached for her hands. "Try to understand. I've wanted this for twelve years."

She squeezed his fingers. "Then you can wait a little longer." She tilted her head and pulled her hands free. "You do know that the necklace has to be handmade, right? That you have to make it yourself?"

He threw up his hands. "That's an ancient custom! This is a new era!" He leaned forward. "It's a beautiful necklace."

Katara shook her head and started walking toward the house. "You can't weasel your way out of this one, Sparky."

"It's huge! And blue! And absurdly valuable!"

Katara continued up the stairs. "No carving, no deal."

He ran after her. "Is this because I didn't kneel?" He leaned closer. "Because I can kneel, you know."

"Oh, I'm sure you will, later," Katara said, smiling fondly.

≅

When he returned to the office, Zuko found Iroh waiting. The old man did not seem pleased. "I hear you had an eventful afternoon, my nephew."

Zuko took a seat at his desk. "Yes."

"Is Mai's brother going to leave?"

Zuko's lips twitched. "I don't know. He's free to go if he wants."

"Toph tells me that you and Katara fought him together." Iroh's features settled into a disapproving glower. "I want your happiness as much as anyone can, but do not mistake shared tyranny for shared leadership."

Inside, Zuko felt a small part of himself go cold at his uncle's rebuke. But he kept his face impassive. "It was three bending masters," he said, "and a man who trained under Piandao himself. And you would have done no differently, if it were your son."

Iroh threw his cup of tea against the wall. It shattered and green liquid spewed everywhere. "You _are_ my son!"

Zuko leapt to his feet. "Then you should understand!" He pointed out the door. "The Funshutsu targeted innocent people! _Their own_ people! And then they attacked my agents and my son! They've got the upper hand and we have to do everything we can to stop them!"

"This isn't Ba Sing Se! You can't do things the way you want!" Iroh's breath came heavy. It steamed in the air. "You're not the Blue Spirit and you're not an exile. You are the Fire Lord. And you are forgetting the rules of engagement."

Despite himself, Zuko chuckled. It came out a little rough and sad. He looked down and spoke under his breath: "Is that why she said no?"

Iroh frowned. "What was that?"

Zuko looked up. "I asked Katara to marry me."

Iroh's posture changed entirely. He raised his arms to embrace Zuko. But Zuko put his hands up. "She refused."

His uncle, a courtly gentleman at the worst of times, cursed foully and spat fire. Little sparks died on the carpet. "Why?"

Zuko sat down heavily. His chair squeaked. He ran hands through his hair. "I don't know." He pinched his nose. "Maybe it's too soon. Maybe I was wrong to ask. But she's right about one thing: we need to dispose of the Funshutsu."

Iroh sighed. His hands found his sleeves. "Then we must dispose of your Minister of the Interior."

Zuko's mouth dropped open. "Jiang?"

Iroh nodded gravely. "He has kept his affiliation secret. But Xiao Zhi's agents report him entering the Blue Sparrowkeet shortly after a morning meeting between the Interior and the Minister of Culture."

Zuko frowned. The closeness of the Funshutsu to himself and his home terrified him, but Jiang's loyalties made sense. He had been the one to suggest that Katara bring her young firebenders back to the Fire Nation, as though the Southern Air Temple were inherently improper. That sounded like the sort of purist, nationalist thinking that the Funshutsu advocated. It also fit that he would attempt to influence the Minister of Culture, but Zuko rather doubted that it would work. Bei Liu was a brilliant historian with enough knowledge to rival Wong Shi Tong's library, but she was more than a trifle absent-minded. Any attempt at subtlety usually went over her head. "What did he want with Bei Liu?"

"More war memorials."

Zuko's good eye narrowed. "And Bei Liu's response?"

Iroh nodded toward the door. "Ask her yourself. I took the liberty of summoning her."

Zuko nodded, and Iroh opened the door. He murmured something, and Bei Liu tiptoed in. She was dressed in wrinkled, rust-colored robes and wore her hair in a messy bun with mismatched hair-sticks. She spoke in a rush: "My Lord, if the war memorial-"

"The eternal flame will continue to burn at the center of the city, Bei Liu," Zuko said. "I hope that you share that sentiment."

"Oh, I do, my Lord," she said. She chewed her lip and twisted her ink-stained hands. "I didn't immediately understand Minister Jiang's thoughts on more memorials, but if you think differently, please tell me."

"Memorials don't concern me, Bei Liu."

The woman looked a little hurt. "Culture concerns everyone, my Lord. And that includes the dull destinations for every school trip."

Zuko sighed. "That's true. What did Minister Jiang want? Something bigger? More expensive?"

"He didn't say, exactly," Bei Liu said. "It was a little strange. He kept trying to insinuate something, I think, but I felt that I didn't quite understand the joke."

"He behaved in an ungentlemanly fashion?" Iroh asked.

Bei Liu pinked. "No, not quite… He just kept asking me where I was during the war, what I thought of it, how I thought things had changed…" She frowned. "Then he started asking about dancing!"

"So he does have a passion for you," Iroh said.

The minister shook her head. "No, no, I don't think so. Although it's hard to tell, sometimes…" Her focus wandered, then snapped back into place. "He kept asking about how the standard curriculum has changed since the war, what we teach -- he called it 'revisionism' and said no one wanted to hear all that bad news, that it was bad for children's self-esteem as Fire Nation citizens." She leaned forward a little. "I'm afraid to say that he may be a bit senile, my Lord."

"Quite," Zuko said. "What did you tell him?"

"I told him I had a book to read."

Zuko smirked. "You are a credit to your country, as always. Don't worry about Jiang. I'll have a talk with him."

Again, Bei Lu bit her lip. "Oh, no, I haven't gotten him in trouble, have I?"

"That's his responsibility, not yours."

She nodded, bowed, and started to make her exit. "Oh, wait!" She dug into her sleeve and produced a scroll. She darted over and dropped it on Zuko's desk. "That might be helpful, my Lord. Good day."

Zuko stared after her retreating form, then reached for the scroll. It was flagged in one place with a red ribbon. "You appointed her, didn't you?"

"I knew her mother," Iroh said wistfully. "A woman whose cleverness was matched only by her beauty."

Zuko blinked. "Please tell me that Minister Bei Liu is not my cousin."

"Oh, no. I met her mother after Bei Liu was born."

Zuko winced, and sighed. He unfurled the scroll to the marked place and read the first few lines. His good eyebrow rose, and he felt a smile touch his face. Iroh tried to peer over the desk. "Did Bei Liu declare her undying love for you?"

"No," Zuko said. "She gave me a loophole." He lay the scroll flat. There, in the official calligraphy of the Fire Nation archives were the words: _Regarding widowhood: A Fire Nation citizen may take to wife his kinsman's widow, provided he demonstrates apt means to support her and her children. If his kinsman has taken a war-bride in another country or colony, she and her children attain full citizenship upon marriage. Children born outside the Fire Nation or raised by war-brides may inherit properties and titles, provided they demonstrate satisfactory bending ability. _

"Oh, that is very clever," Iroh said. "I knew she was the right one for the job."

"All this time, I thought I would have to adopt him myself," Zuko said.

"Given Katara's response to your suit, my nephew, do you think you will fare any better if you propose parenthood?"

Zuko rested his elbows on the desk. "That depends. What do you know about carving?"

≅

Zuko carried the scroll to dinner. He had intended to place it at Katara's seat for her to find, but most of the family had arrived -- with the exception of Tom-Tom. Zuko kissed Katara's cheek, gave her the scroll, nodded to Shizu and Kurzu, and found an empty chair beside Siida: "Did Tom-Tom leave?"

"No," the child said, blushing. "He's in his room, still. I asked him if he wanted to come, but he said he wasn't hungry."

Zuko smiled. "Then you should save him some dessert."

Siida grinned. "That's a great idea!"

Suki entered the room, Sora in tow. "Siida! There you are! I've been looking all over!" Suki put Sora down. "You're not to run ahead without me, young lady. The lieutenant never abandons her battalion."

"I was on a scouting mission for a good seat, Mom."

"A good seat? You're at the Fire Lord's table, with your family! There aren't any bad seats!"

"I wanted to sit with-" Siida blushed more deeply. "With Uncle Zuko!"

_Sokka's children are too clever by half._ "There's no accounting for taste," Zuko said to Suki. "It's fine. Take my place."

Now it was Suki's turn to blush. "Zuko, it's your chair, you're the-"

"It's the most comfortable chair, and you're carrying Kurzu's new cousin," he said. "Sit."

"It'll give us a chance to catch up," Katara said, as she stowed the scroll in her belt. "Didn't you go shopping with Iroh today?"

Suki sat, and the two women appeared to have plenty to talk about. Zuko turned to his niece. "You owe me one."

"I know," she said. She sighed and the breath disturbed her bangs. "But you already-"

Something warm and sharp poked Zuko in the ribs. He flinched and turned. Sora had stolen Saya's seat -- she stood wagging her finger at Senzo -- and poked Zuko again. "Are you really our uncle?"

Siida leaned over. "Sora!"

"It's a fair question," Zuko said. "I'm not related by blood to you."

"But neither was Uncle Aang."

"No. Aang was married to your aunt, and that made him your uncle."

Sora frowned. "So Aunt Katara married you _and_ Uncle Aang?"

It took Zuko a moment to understand the logic of the three-year-old. In the meantime, Siida had tried to reach around Zuko's chair and slap her sister upside the head. Zuko waved her arm away. "No, Sora, your aunt only married Aang."

"Then how come you're our uncle?"

_This could take a while. _"Well, you see-"

A low, pained groan silenced the room. Zuko turned and Suki had pushed herself away from the table. She fell out of the chair. Saya shrieked: "Mom!" Sokka knocked his chair aside getting to his wife. He jumped straight over the table, his shoes making an imprint in the mashed pear-squash. Zuko saw him go pale beneath his beard.

"Katara, there's blood, why is there blood-"

"I don't know, I-"

_"Don't touch the food!"_ Iroh was shouting.

Sora began to cry. "What's happening-"

Senzo stepped forward. "Dad-"

_"Stay back, Senzo!"_

"We need to get her out, I have to bend the blood back in or she'll lose-"

Siida's hand was on his sleeve. "Uncle Zuko…"

Zuko looked to Iroh. The old man was already issuing orders to the guards: _Full lockdown, kitchen staff detained, no one leaves._ Zuko took Siida's hand and picked up Sora with his other arm. "Girls, close your eyes and follow me." He looked over at Saya and Senzo. "Saya, take Kurzu. You and your brother come with us."

Sokka's eldest children continued staring at their mother lying prone on the floor. She moaned and curled into a ball, hands pressed between her knees. "Do as your uncle says, kids," Toph said. That seemed to startle them awake. They stared at her, now. The earthbender made fists and turned to Iroh. "Let's figure this out, old man. Ling, you're with me."

"Always," Ling said.

His breath shaky, Zuko pulled Siida from her chair. "Come on. Let's go."

"Why is Mama making that noise?" Sora whispered into Zuko's neck.

"Just don't look," Zuko said, leading the two girls around the table and the pool of blood spreading from Suki's twitching body. Siida stumbled after him, and he met Katara's eyes just he was leaving. She shook her head softly to him, then turned back to Suki. Sokka knelt beside his wife, stroking her hair. As Ling ushered Saya and Senzo through the door, Zuko saw Katara begin bending a ribbon of blood in the air.

≅

**This chapter was very, very hard to write. And it's not over yet. Please leave some reviews! They'll make me feel a little less sad. **


	19. Chapter 18

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Fandomme**

**Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to help heal the victims of an epidemic sweeping the Fire Nation.**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of VIACOM and Nickelodeon. No profit is made by this story.**

**Notes: **_**Go check out my profile for new fan-art from Blue Moraine Sedai, AKAVertigo, and Irrel! And if you want to do fan-art for **_**Ozai's Vengeance, The Three Drinks**_** or**_** Three Chores Series, **_**just let me know! Thank you, ladies!**_

≅

"Find the physician and Xiao Zhi. Inform them that the Kyoshi warrior has fallen ill," Zuko said, as he and Sokka's children left the dining hall. He affixed the nearest guard with his sharpest glare. It was hard with a three-year-old clinging to his neck and another child's sweating hand firmly clutching his own. "Lady Katara's orders are mine."

"Yes, my Lord."

He continued walking. He failed to grasp how briskly until he heard Siida's shoes tapping the dark, glossy floors as she jogged a little to keep up. "Where are we going?" Saya asked from behind him, hitching Kurzu on her arm.

Zuko paused. His arm trembling with effort -- Sora was a lot heavier than she looked -- he crouched and let Sora down. She slid off his arm, but stayed near his leg. Suddenly they were all looking at him: Sokka's three daughters with their open blue eyes, Senzo's dark and troubled gaze, his own son's roving attention. He had simply intended to get the children out and away from the sight of Suki bleeding and moaning on the floor. He hadn't considered where he would take them or for how long, or what they would do once there. He suddenly remembered his uncle at Lake Laogai: _You never think these things through!_

Old drill training took over. _Gather family and resources. Claim escape routes._ "Sora, get on my back," he said.

Sniffling, Sokka's youngest scrabbled up Zuko's back. Her arms snaked around his neck. When he stood, he hooked his arms under her little legs and shouldered her weight. "I used to carry your Aunt Toph like this."

"Where are we going?" Saya repeated.

He didn't answer. Instead, he led them through the maze of corridors surrounding the royal wing. At each turn, he slid the ornate doors shut and directed fire up the pneumatic tubes. He paused to rattle them on their tracks and make certain the pneumatic locks were tight.

"How do you know which pipe to blow into?" Senzo asked. "Those dragon-mouth things are everywhere."

"My uncle taught me. Come on."

They arrived outside Tom-Tom's room -- his old room, where Katara had once slept -- and he rang the bell. "Go away," Tom-Tom said from within.

"You're in danger," Zuko said. "You can open this door and come with me, or I can open it myself."

Silence. Sighing steam, Zuko moved for the door. "He's not lying!" Saya shouted. "Something happened to our mom!"

Zuko heard bells tinkling, then movement. The door slid open. Tom-Tom's hair was messy and he looked like he'd spent the day scowling. He squinted down at Saya. Zuko watched Tom-Tom take in the details: Sora's red, puffy face; Senzo's tight grimace; the way Saya hugged her arms. Tom-Tom's eyes widened slowly. He blinked twice, and looked over at Zuko. "There really is a conspiracy, isn't there?"

Zuko nodded. "You need to come with us."

Tom-Tom didn't move. He gave Zuko a hard look. "First you want to kill me, now you want to save me?"

"What's he talking about?" Senzo asked.

"What conspiracy?" Saya asked.

Tom-Tom's narrow, pointed jaw set. "The one your uncle hasn't told you about. The one I'm supposed to be masterminding." He pushed away from the door and re-entered the room. Zuko watched him pick up a single rucksack and the twin hooks. The boy shouldered the bag and stared into Zuko's face. His eyes flicked over to Saya and Senzo. "I'm doing this for them, not you."

"Lecture me later. Help me now."

≅

Zuko led them straight for his rooms. "Won't they expect you here?" Tom-Tom asked, as they rounded the corner.

"Who?" Senzo asked.

"Quiet," Zuko said. He put on his best face as he nodded to his guards. "Have some books and toys sent from the nursery," he said, as he pushed the doors open and ushered the children in. He quickly shut the doors behind him and locked them with fire and mechanics, then folded a bar across the door. He crossed to the bed and let Sora down, then pulled down his twin blades from their hooks on the wall above the bed. Next he moved to a scroll cabinet against the wall opposite his armoire. He pulled the scrolls in a rough lotus pattern. Thin wires attached to each scroll went taut. The whole cabinet swung away from the wall soundlessly, exposing a circular bronze door with a dragon's mouth embossed in the center. Zuko listened at the dragon's mouth. Nothing. No invaders in the tunnels. Yet.

"Whoa…" Senzo walked up to the door. "Where does this go?"

"Out of here," Zuko said. "Can you memorize that pattern?" Sokka's son nodded. "Good. You might need it." He shut the cabinet and replaced the scrolls. Then he moved to his desk. Flipping open the top, he opened a shallow compartment littered with papers. He depressed it until he heard a click, then opened up the musty false bottom. Money, his dagger, a whetstone, and two White Lotus tiles were there. With a sweep of his hand, he took it all and closed the desk. The Pai Sho tiles he handed to Saya and Tom-Tom. He tucked the dagger into his belt.

"What's with the money?" Senzo asked.

"It's your allowance," Zuko said. He opened the pouch and began distributing funds. The children stared at the gold pieces in their hands -- he gave Sora's portion to Saya, on the off chance that Katara's fiscal responsibility had transmitted to her niece -- and blinked at him.

"Are you taking us away from our mom?" Saya asked. For the first time since Suki's collapse, she looked afraid.

"No," Zuko said. "But you have to learn the way out."

"Is our mom going to be okay?"

"I don't know."

"But what's wrong with her?"

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Senzo asked. "You're the Fire Lord!"

"I mean _I don't know!_"

As one, the children flinched. They backed away toward the bed. Sora shied away from him. Zuko deflated. He hung his head. _Nice one, Zu-Zu. Way to scream at the kids with the dying mother._ As he opened his mouth to speak, Tom-Tom interrupted him: "There's a group called the Funshutsu that wants to take down the Fire Lord. It sounds like your family got in the middle."

Sokka's children looked to him. "Is that true?" Saya asked.

Zuko nodded. "Yes."

"Take you down where?" Sora asked. The other children simply stared at her. "Where do they want to take Uncle Zuko down to?"

Saya slapped her forehead. "It's just an expression, Sora."

Nonplussed, Sora looked from her sister to Zuko. Abruptly, she slid off the bed and wrapped her arms around Zuko's leg. "Sorry, Uncle Zuko."

He looked down. "Why are you sorry?"

"You were yelling. That means we did something bad."

Something inside him fractured just a little. How many times had this very scene played out in this very room between him and his own father? _I'm sorry, Dad, I'll do better next time, I'll be good, I promise._ He remembered the stiffness in Ozai's limbs -- the man rarely touched anyone -- and the odd, awkward rasp in his voice that he smothered with mockery: _Yes, cry about it, Zuko; see how far that gets you._

Blinking furiously, Zuko knelt down. "You didn't do anything wrong," he said, surprised at how small his voice had gotten.

"You're not mad?" Sora asked, staring at the floor.

"I'm angry at a lot of things. But you're not one of them."

Sora's face rose and she looked at once so hopeful and scared that for a moment Zuko thought he saw Aang in there, staring back at him. "Really?" He nodded. She ducked her head and hugged his neck. She moved so that she could speak in his good ear: "I'm glad. I love you, Uncle Zuko."

The words felt a little like his father's lightning. He was vaguely aware of a simmering tingle in his heart as his arms wrapped around her little body. "I love you, too," he said, astonished to find that his words were true. "I love you and I'm going to take care of you. No matter what happens. I promise."

Sora pulled away. "Does that mean we can eat, now?"

He would have laughed, had he not utterly feared the possibility of poisoning his tiny niece. "I'll see what I can do."

The bell at his door rang. He rang to answer it. Iroh stood outside bearing a tray of fruit and tea. "This food is safe," he said. "I bought it this afternoon; no one else has touched it."

Zuko looked from his uncle to his niece. "You're a mindreader, now?"

"I know children, my nephew."

Zuko transferred the tray to the bed. "You can eat that," he said. He stepped half-outside the door and slid it almost-closed behind him. He lowered his voice. "Suki?"

"Alive," Iroh said. "The poison causes convulsions; her womb suffered first."

"The child?"

"We don't know. Katara is bending as fast as she can."

Zuko closed his eyes. "Was it meant for me?"

He heard his uncle clear his throat. "Yes."

Zuko balled his fists. "I should never have let her sit at my place; I knew there was a threat-"

"It was meant for all of us, my nephew."

His eyes snapped open. _"What?"_

"We fed some of each dish to a raccoon-toad. It died in minutes." Iroh's eyebrows lifted. "Whoever your new enemies are, my nephew, they don't want any of your family around to avenge your death."

The hairs on Zuko's arms rose. He thought of his niece's little arms encircling him. _She could have died. We all could have died. Who are these people? _"It's not safe here any longer," he said. "We have to get the children out. I could take them-"

"Where would you go?" Iroh asked. "You don't have a flying bison. Someone here has betrayed you; you cannot rely on Fire Navy ships or war balloons. Your enemies failed tonight. Now they hope to smoke you out of hiding."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"Plan," Iroh said. "Wait until we have more information. Miss Toph and her lovely companion are proving most…effective."

Zuko could only imagine. "What about the White Lotus? I gave the kids some tiles-"

"This isn't the Avatar's group, Zuko," Iroh said. "The Avatar did not have a three-year-old and an infant to care for."

"I could go with them-"

_"Zuko."_ Iroh settled his spotted hands on Zuko's shoulders. "You have to sit still. You have to be steady. Everyone is doing everything they can."

"I'm the Fire Lord-"

"You're also a father. Do that job, for now." Iroh squeezed his shoulders. "Sokka and Suki need you to do what they cannot."

Zuko nodded. From the corner of his eye, he saw two servants delivering a trunk of scrolls and toys. He slid his arms around his uncle's shoulders. "Be careful, old man."

Iroh patted his back. "You too, my nephew." He pulled away. As he did, his eyes took on some of their old fire. "We will find the Funshutsu and destroy it."

Zuko heard a small noise behind him. He had the sudden sensation of being watched -- the children were likely spying, listening for word on their mother. He drew himself to his full height and squared his shoulders. Firming his voice, he said: "I know that. Our enemies will break like waves on rock."

Iroh nodded. "They always do."

Inside the room, Zuko lugged the open trunk of toys and plucked out a portable Pai Sho board. "So, who wants to learn the White Lotus gambit?"

≅

Hours passed. The children quickly plowed through the fruit and sweets Iroh had sent. Rolling their eyes, they memorized the words Zuko taught them: "'One who has eaten the fruit and tasted its mysteries,' we get it." Zuko painted a small map of the secret tunnels beneath the palace: "The door behind the cabinet leads straight to the vault. From there we can-" "You call that a _map?_" But in the end it was just a waiting game. It felt like rainy days at the Western Air Temple, the tense and nervous hours waiting for the storm to pass, hoping for sunlight. Sora and Kurzu got tired first -- their nervousness fed off the taut quiet between their elder siblings, but they were bored and confused, and annoyed with Zuko constantly plucking breakables from their questing hands.

"Mom usually puts Sora to bed right about now," Saya said. "Should we go back to the nursery?"

"No," Zuko said. "We can…" He debated. Katara's room had more space, but this room had the door to an escape route. "We can all just sleep here. It'll be like the old days."

"Dad said you all had your own rooms at the Temple," Senzo said.

"We did. But Appa's saddle got crowded. And you know how your father snores."

Despite themselves, the children laughed. "I miss Appa," Senzo said.

"I miss Uncle Aang," Siida concurred.

"I miss _meeting_ Uncle Aang," Sora said, folding her arms. "I was still in Mama's tummy when he died."

"I'm sure he would have liked you," Saya said. "He liked all little kids."

Sora leaned against her sister. "Would the Avatar know how to make Mama better?"

Saya blinked. She risked a glance at Zuko. "Um…"

Zuko sat beside his niece. "The Avatar didn't heal people that way. But your Aunt Katara can heal almost anything. I've seen it."

Sora swung her legs off the edge of the bed. "Like what?"

"Well…" Zuko took a deep breath. "Once, I hurt your Aunt Toph," he said. "I burned her feet. It hurt too much for her to walk, and she had to crawl. But Katara fixed it."

"Why did you burn her feet?" Sora asked. "Were you mad at her?"

"No," Zuko said. He lifted his eyes and found Tom-Tom staring at him. "I made a mistake."

"That's some mistake," Tom-Tom said.

"I found out she was trying to help me. That she was the only one who believed in me. But I wound up hurting her anyway." He grimaced. "So I begged her to forgive me, and she did."

"Not without some payback though, right?" Senzo asked.

"Of course not. I carried her on my shoulders so long my spine started to curve."

Senzo snickered. "Tell another one."

Sora yawned. Her head fell against Zuko's arm. "Yeah, another one."

His good eye widening briefly, Zuko found himself looking to Saya for help. She nodded and smiled brightly. "Tell us about you and Aunt Katara," she said, claiming a spot near one post of his bed. She sat against the beam and folded her hands.

"No, no mushy stuff," Senzo protested. "I want one about firebending!"

"Most of the stories about me and your aunt involve firebending," Zuko said. "We didn't exactly get along."

"Shocking," Tom-Tom murmured, and pulled up a chair. He crossed his ankles and rested them on Zuko's desk. "Don't let me stop you, _Zu-Zu_, I'm just as bored as everyone else here."

Zuko suddenly understood how his uncle had felt each time he was surly, on the ship. There was that mingled annoyance and affection, and that pang that happened when Tom-Tom briefly became his sister. Smiling, Zuko pushed himself back on the bed. Sora crawled after him. After a moment, so did Siida, carrying a sleeping Kurzu. They settled on either side of him. Sora wormed her way under his covers and draped his arm over her little shoulders. Blushing, Siida leaned against his shoulder.

"So," Saya pressed, "how did you two meet?"

"That," said Zuko, "is a very long story."

≅

Zuko woke sometime just before dawn to the creaking sound of his armoire opening. His senses came alive at once and he stiffened. It was hard to move -- Sora and Siida slept on either side of him, and Sokka's two eldest children had curled up at the foot of the bed, leaving Zuko only a narrow band of space on the mattress. Tom-Tom stirred briefly in the chair, then turned over. A figure emerged from the armoire -- Katara.

She was covered in blood.

Zuko carefully swung his legs over the mattress and tiptoed over to her. "What are they doing here?" Katara asked.

"Someone had to watch them." He looked her up and down. "They shouldn't see you like this. Let's go."

"You can't just leave-"

Tom-Tom coughed. Zuko turned and Mai's brother was staring at them from his place on the chair. "So that's how you've been doing it," he said. He examined Katara's clothes and winced. "Provided his highness over here had decided to trust me, I can keep watch while you clean up."

Katara looked at her hands. For the first time, perhaps, she noticed the blood under her fingernails. Her fingers trembled. "Let's go," Zuko said, ushering her back toward the armoire. Before he left, he put the twin hooks in Tom-Tom's lap. "A single shot down the dragon's mouth should do it," he murmured to him. "Follow my map if you need it."

"You really have to work on that paranoia, Zu-Zu."

In Katara's room, he lit the sconces and started running the taps. "It's in my hair," Katara said as she stared into his mother's old mirror. "I didn't know it was in my hair-"

"It'll wash out, come on." He guided her to the tub and began gently removing her dress. She didn't move as he slipped the fabric down her shoulders. Bloodstained cloth pooled at her feet. Zuko took his own shirt off and helped her into the bathtub. Blood in her hair and on her hands tinged the water pink. He began working a bar of soap. It snapped unexpectedly between his palms and he had to put the foamy slivers away. He avoided mentioning Suki.

"I told the kids how we met," he said. He wet the hair and lathered it in his fingers. The ends were stiff, encrusted with blood. "Then I told them about the pirates and your necklace."

Katara reached for her neck. Not finding the necklace, she frowned. "Where-"

"Here you go." Zuko handed her the necklace. Katara rubbed the pendant between her fingers. Zuko continued washing her hair. It was hard without bending; he had to cup the water in his hands and let it drain out over her head. She sat still and unblinking as the water washed down through her hair. She hugged her knees.

"They asked about the Western Air Temple, and about Aang-"

A rough sob cut his words short. He froze. Katara doubled over in the water. Her naked shoulders shook. Zuko carefully extended his hand toward her. She flinched away. He pulled back and stepped away, uncertain where to go. Candles flickered and steam hung thick between them. Katara curled further into herself, her sobs muffled by her knees.

"Is she dead?" Zuko asked.

Katara's cries faded to a muttering little whimper, like screaming was just too much effort. Sliding his slippers off, Zuko entered the water, pants and all, and looked at the way the blood had made pink ribbons in the tub. "You did everything you could," he said, hating the way his eyes had prickled. "I'm sure of it, you're the best-"

Katara's sobs briefly became laughter. "I couldn't do it, Zuko."

"Couldn't do what?" He didn't want to know.

"I had to ask Sokka to…" Her hair hung to obscure her face, her eyes. She spoke in a whisper. "I had to ask Sokka to choose."

A cold ache stole over Zuko, the likes of which he hadn't felt since the war. "His wife or his child," he said.

Katara's head moved in a way that might have been a nod. "He… He grabbed me, and he shook me, he was screaming…"

Mercifully, the chilly anguish turned to straight anger -- something Zuko could deal with. The idea of anyone -- brother or no -- treating Katara this way was enough to re-align his frayed nerves. "He hurt you?"

But she didn't answer. "He was just shouting so loud, I'd forgotten…" She paused to pick dried blood from under her nails. "'You've never lost a child, you've never even had one…'" She mimicked her brother's voice. "'You don't know what it's like, Katara, you don't have a family-'"

"That's a lie." The sconces glowed blue-white for just a moment. Zuko leaned forward. "You have a family right here."

"He said I wasn't _me_ anymore," she said, raising her head slightly. "He said I wasn't _the sister he knew._ Not if I could ask him that so calmly."

Zuko pushed himself back in the water. "He thinks I've tarnished you." Zuko had to look away just to keep from shouting fire. "If he wants to challenge your honor he has to-"

"This is all my fault," she said.

Candleflame leapt about a foot. "How can you _say_ that? How can you even think it? You tried-"

"I never told them about the miscarriage," Katara said in a hushed, shamed voice. "They don't know how it changed…everything."

_You've never lost a child. You've never even had one._ He remembered her on the ship, the rocking swell of the sea, how he'd barely had to move that second time because the ocean did the work for him, gentle and slow, her tears on his mouth after she told him of the child she'd bled away. How even then a small part of him had thought of making another, had thought of succeeding where even the Avatar had failed, had hated that private selfishness.

"It's my own fault for not telling them," she said. "I brought it on myself. Sokka would never say that on purpose, it's because I was dishonest-"

Zuko stirred the water near his belly -- for a moment it was like bending water -- and shot lightning straight at the mirror. It shattered and Katara shrieked. Bright, jagged pieces fell to the floor. The tingle sizzled down his arm. Smoke trailed from his fingers. "It doesn't matter that your brother didn't know. He grabbed you and he shook you. And that's wrong."

"He was going crazy-"

"It's _wrong,_ Katara."

"You were just the same about Kurzu! Look at what we did to Tom-Tom!"

There was no answer to that. No answer that wasn't a shameful half-truth, at any rate. Zuko felt about his own child now the way he knew, deep down, that Iroh felt about him: he could and would rip apart his son's enemies with his bare hands. And while a small part of him acknowledged that this might be wrong -- he knew it was wrong when Sokka did it -- he had already benefited from that kind of thinking. Had his mother not felt the same way about him, Ozai would have killed him long ago and Azulon's reign would have lasted. How could he do any differently?

"What did Sokka choose?" he asked.

Katara blinked, looked away. "Suki's alive."

Zuko sighed. He leaned against the back of the tub and stared at the ceiling. "Will Sokka forgive me?"

"I don't know."

He found her eyes. "Will you?"

Katara moved in the water. She crawled up close to him. "Can you make this right?" she asked.

"I'm not sure."

"Can you protect my family?"

"With my life."

"Can you…" She trailed off, bit her lip. Her head hung down again. "Can you protect yourself?" When he didn't answer, she leaned against him. "Because I don't think I can handle any more loss, Zuko. I failed Aang and I failed Sokka and I just can't…"

He gathered her in his arms. He found himself rocking her. His mother had held him like this, once. "You're not a failure," he said. "You're a master waterbender and the Bloodbender and the Painted Lady." He almost smiled. "Someday maybe even Fire Lady, if I'm lucky. But you're Katara." She was crying against him, finally, hot tears rolling down his neck. "Whatever happens, never forget who you are."

"I was so scared to love you," she said, breath hitching.

"I'm still scared to let you."

≅

He left Katara in his room with instructions not to open the door. The children barely woke as she slid in beside them. Senzo and Saya had migrated to the floor, and Tom-Tom held out a squirming Kurzu for Zuko when he re-entered the room. "You deal with him," Tom-Tom said. "I don't do diapers."

Zuko found himself only too happy to comply. His son was well enough to voice his discomfort. Sokka had just lost a child. When he left, Kurzu was burrowing into Katara's arms.

Sokka sat in the palace infirmary. Zuko usually tried to avoid the place, having spent nearly a week there with his eye a molten lump of agony. Sokka sat where Iroh had sat for those long, painful hours -- beside the bed in the furthest corner, staring at the gauzy curtains that partially obscured the patient from view. He looked broken. He sat with his elbows on his knees, hands in his loosened, unruly hair.

"You've got a lot of guts coming in here, Jerkbender," Sokka said, not turning around.

Zuko swallowed and continued his advance. "Maybe I'm just that stupid."

Sokka almost laughed. "Yeah. It could be that." He turned and Zuko saw what the night had done to him -- the physical traces, at least. He looked hollow. His eyes were ringed with exhaustion and his wife's blood remained under his fingernails. Zuko almost stopped walking. But then he turned to look at Suki. She slept on, breathing shallowly. The profusion of pillows made her look smaller than he remembered.

"Katara told me," he said. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry don't cut it, brother."

Zuko ignored the odd use of a family name. He continued staring at Suki. Sweat made her hair cling to her forehead. "Your wife has suffered more than her share at the hands of my family."

"You can say that again."

"My uncle is doing everything he can, but he's learned nothing about who may have done this."

"Why am I not surprised?"

Zuko winced. He licked his lips. "You have your sword. We're alone. I won't stop you."

Sokka slapped his forehead. "Damn, you're a moron, sometimes."

"I knew I was being targeted-"

"So did we-"

"I want to make it right-"

"So _do it!_"

"I don't know how!"

Sokka turned and blinked up him. Breath whooshed out of him. He stroked his beard for a minute, staring at Zuko. Grunting, he pushed himself out of the chair. He took a step forward so that all Zuko saw were blue eyes rimmed with red. "You want to make it right?"

"Yes."

Sokka's finger poked his chest. "You take care of my sister. You get my family out of here. You let me help you find these guys and we take 'em out."

Zuko nodded. "Done."

"Tell me you've got a plan."

"I'm working on it." He eyed the bed again. "When can she be moved?"

"Katara said soon." Sokka's tired eyes narrowed. "The sooner the better, though."

"I know."

Sokka nodded. He stepped away, resumed his chair. "How are the kids?"

"They miss their father." Zuko stepped beside the chair. He kept his posture straight, and looked dead ahead. "There's something else I have to tell you."

"You want to marry her."

"That's true, I do." He fisted his hands, hoped this was the right thing. _She would never have told him herself, and it's eating their family alive. _"She was pregnant."

The chair squeaked as Sokka moved. "Kurzu _is_ your son?"

Zuko shook his head. "No. This child was Aang's. And it was years ago." He swallowed. "She lost it."

Sokka's jaw fell open. _"What?"_

"She miscarried. And their marriage…" Zuko made a crumbling motion with his hands. "Everything changed."

Sokka swore. He ran his hands through his hair. "I had no… She never…"

"I know."

Sokka's face twisted up to face him again. "Did _you_ know?"

"She told me after… When we came back from Tetsushi."

"So that's when it started." Sokka sighed, stroked his beard. "All this time… Why didn't she tell me?"

"She was ashamed. She thought she had failed."

"Then why didn't _Aang_ tell me?" Sokka picked up a piece of fruit and threw it at the opposite wall. "Damn it…"

"So the next time you feel it necessary to grab your sister and shake her and tell her how she can't _possibly_ understand your grief because she's _never had a family_, you remember this conversation." Zuko's voice had hardened. "Do you understand?"

"Oh, man, she never told me, I didn't-"

_"Do you understand?"_

Sokka nodded. "I get it."

Zuko made to leave. At the door, he turned and said: "I don't know if Iroh told you, but the poison was meant for all of us. If Suki hadn't taken a bite when she did, we would never have known. Your child saved us all."

Zuko saw the color drain from Sokka's face. His beard twitched as his jaw stiffened. "My kids, too?"

"My uncle thinks they wanted no one left."

Blinking something from his eye, Sokka nodded. He set his shoulders. "We're finding these people." It wasn't a question.

Zuko nodded. "Soon."

≅

He stood before an assembly of his ministers. He made sure to make eye contact with Jiang. The man betrayed no sense of surprise or disappointment at seeing Zuko alive. Zuko folded his hands and addressed the men and women sitting at the long, polished table. "Thank you for attending me on such short notice," he said. "I regret to inform you of some sad news. Lady Suki, the Kyoshi warrior and sister-in-law to Lady Katara, has fallen gravely ill. She needs fresh air and relaxation in order to recover. Admiral Jee has graciously allowed the use of his property on Ember Island for this purpose. I will be escorting the family myself. We leave tomorrow afternoon. General Iroh will remain here in my place."

"When will you be returning, my Lord?" Minister Jiang asked.

"Sooner than you think, I'm sure," Zuko said. "The Kyoshi are strong. Lady Suki will need little time to recover her full strength. In the meantime, I plan on reducing the risk to our royal treasures by removing curious children from this household."

They all laughed politely. Zuko rose. The company saluted him. He saluted back. And then he was gone.

≅

The children were happy to hear about the Ember Island trip when he told them at lunch. Tom-Tom merely rolled his eyes and said: "Ember Island? Could you be more of a tourist?"

"How come we have to go to someone else's house?" Senzo asked.

"My family had property there, but I sold it," Zuko told him. "Besides, Admiral Jee has plenty of ostrich-horses. You'll like it there."

Katara slept in his chambers for the better part of the day, arising late in the afternoon just as he emerged from the tunnel with an empty basket. She wiped sleep from her eyes as he carefully shut the cabinet. "What are you doing?"

"Preparing," he said. "Can you bend by tonight?"

She frowned. "I can bend right now. Why?"

"You'll see. Just get your rest." He bent down over her prone figure and kissed her forehead. "Trust me. I'm going to make this better."

"I know," she said, still sleepy, and rolled over. Her voice muffled by pillows, she asked: "You're not making big plans without me, are you?"

"Who, me?"

"How big a plan are we talking about?"

"Um…"

"I don't like the sound of that, Sparky."

He brushed hair away from her face. "I'll make it work. Just try to sleep." He kissed the corner of her mouth. "You'll need it."

≅

He waited until the night-time shift-change outside the nursery door. Iroh distracted the new guards. Katara was already waiting with Kurzu, Toph, and Ling; Sokka had taken Suki to his sister's room on the pretext of a healing session. Tom-Tom accompanied Zuko. They swept into the room quietly, and split off to each side of the room and began awakening the children.

"Uncle Zuko?" Sora asked.

"It's time to go to Ember Island," he said.

"Right now?" she asked.

"Right now."

"But I'm _tired._"

"You can sleep on the boat," he said, lifting her out of the bed. "Let's go."

"I can't go in my _pajamas-_"

"Sure you can," he said. "I'm the Fire Lord. What I say goes."

Saya was shrugging on her dress. "Why do we have to leave now? It's the middle of the night!"

"Does our dad know about this?" Senzo asked.

"Your father and mother are waiting for you."

Siida's eyebrows lifted. "We get to see Mom?"

"Only if you're very quiet and do exactly as I say."

"Let's move," Tom-Tom said.

They sneaked out of the room just in time to see Iroh glancing down the long, empty hallway. Zuko nodded to him, and herded the children in the other direction. In Katara's room, the children rushed their mother. Suki hugged and kissed each of them, then pointed to some bundles. "You'll need those."

"Where are we going?" Siida asked.

Zuko opened the secret panel. "On an adventure," he said.

≅

Inside the tunnel, Sokka whistled. "Sweet setup. I've always wanted a secret passage."

Zuko opened the armoire into his own room. "Still think it's so sweet?" Tom-Tom asked. Toph smacked him upside the head.

"What's so weird about a secret passage between Aunt Katara's room and Uncle Zuko's?" Senzo asked.

"Never you mind," Katara said. Zuko buckled his swords and shouldered his own bag, pulled the hood over his head. He proceeded to the cabinet and pulled the scrolls. The cabinet swung open to expose the secret door. Moving as gracefully as possible with the extra weight, he directed a stream of fire down the dragon's mouth. Behind it, something groaned. Slowly, the golden door creaked open. Zuko pulled it the rest of the way. He turned and his family was staring.

"Man, you get the best toys," Sokka said.

Zuko lit a fire in his palm. "Come on."

The dark stairs led downward. Toph trailed her fingers along the wall, making appreciative sounds as she did. "Wow, it just keeps going," she said. "It's all connected."

"If we kept going, we'd hit the volcano," Zuko said. "Thankfully, we don't need to go that far."

"How far _are_ we going?" Katara asked.

"Right here," Zuko said, stopping short where the stairs ended at a clearing with yet another golden door. To their right was a trap-door in the ceiling. "We're beneath the throne room," he said. "Stand back."

Unslinging his bag and swords, Zuko assumed a bending posture. Pointing the first two fingers of each hand, he let each arm stir the air -- the left to the right, the right to the left. Light sizzled in the path his fingers made. It flashed and he had to squint. The energies crackled apart, split, he lunged and blue lightning fizzed past his fingers and straight into the dragon's mouth. Something clicked. With a dull squeal, the door swung open the way the one upstairs had. Zuko straightened.

"Welcome to the vault."

"Wow," Senzo said. "Can we go in there?"

"Go right ahead," Zuko said. The kids moved first. They stepped into the vault cautiously, all eyes, and surprised him by refusing to touch anything. Zuko gestured for the others to follow. Sokka immediately turned his attention to the weapons. "If you need more, now is the time," Zuko said.

Sokka touched the sword at his back, the boomerang at his belt. "I've got all I need." He turned to Suki. "Honey? Feel like shopping?"

"The less we have to carry, the better," Suki said. "Senzo! Those are probably someone's ashes! Put it down."

"She's feeling better already," Sokka said, staring after his wife with pure admiration.

Zuko moved to his mother's jewelry cabinet, opened it, and withdrew a few small bags of gold. He was handing them to Toph when he felt Katara's footfalls behind him. His eyes immediately tracked to the blue sky opal hanging there on its string of pearls. Katara's voice was hushed. "Is that…?"

"Yes," he said. "Change your mind?"

"Did you carve it?"

"It's a sky opal. My family took it in trade from the Air Nomads when dragons still nested freely. It's a priceless antique."

"So you didn't carve it?"

He shut the cabinet. "There's no winning with you."

Toph tossed the little sack of money in her palm. "You could always marry me, Sparky. No carving required." She jerked a thumb at Ling. "And you'd get two for the price of one!"

Zuko flicked her forehead. "You've got quite the wandering eye, for a blind girl." He proceeded to a rug in the center of the floor. Plucking the tasseled edge of the nearest tapestry, he watched as the rug rolled back.

Sokka shook his fist heavenward. "Is there anything in this house that's not a puzzle?"

"Not really," Zuko said, and knelt. Gloving his hand in flame, he slapped his palm down into the handhold in the center of the door. It dipped down with a gritty sound, and the door slid away to the left, exposing yet another staircase. The air was less stale than it had been when he'd used the tunnels earlier. He led the way once more.

"When are we gonna get to the island?" Sora asked.

"And why isn't Shuzi coming?" Saya wanted to know.

"I gave Shuzi the night off," Zuko lied. In all likelihood, the woman was still recovering from her interrogation at Toph and Ling's hands. They had sworn that she passed the questioning, but Zuko thought they needed to travel light. Shuzi was nursing her own child. They couldn't afford to bring another infant.

"That's funny, she was in the nursery earlier," Saya said.

"Probably collecting her things," Zuko said. He held up a hand as they approached the next door. This one was much older, the stone worn and the dragon's head blackened with use. He turned back to them and held the fire closer to his face.

"This is the tough part," he said. "You all need to be absolutely quiet, stick to the shadows, and be prepared to run."

"What is this place?" Senzo asked.

"The Dragonbone Catacombs."

≅

Not for the first time, Zuko wondered just what exactly he'd been thinking when he devised this plan. It had sounded so simple, at first. Misdirect his ministers, get the family out, take them somewhere safe. Simple. And he'd convinced himself it would be easy because it _was _easy -- when it was just him and his bundles of belongings. He'd thought of it as practice.

But not everyone could just crawl along the ceiling upon hearing the sound of fire sages in the halls. Not everyone could breeze through the catacombs. Not everyone had seen the great cathedrals of bone.

"This is amazing," Saya said in a whisper, staring up.

"It is rather impressive," Tom-Tom agreed.

Siida was less excited. "Are those _real_ dragon bones?" She reached out hesitantly to touch the enormous skull of a grandfather dragon. Her finger alit on a tooth and pulled away quickly.

"Yes, they're real," Zuko said. "We should get moving."

But Siida was already sniffling. "They're all gone…"

Suki half-hugged her, half-ushered her. "It's okay, sweetheart…"

"They were all alive and now they're dead…"

"It's all right, I'm sure they had lots of fun while they were still alive…"

Siida only cried harder. It was as though the last few hours had finally crashed in on her -- the terror of what had happened to her mother, the strange distance Sokka had maintained from all the children afterward. She sobbed into her mother's neck.

"Baby, you've got to quiet down," Sokka said, his voice impatient. He scanned the corridor. "I mean it, Siida, if you don't-"

"Oh, for…" Tom-Tom cursed quietly, marched forward, and crouched down in front of the crying girl. She stilled instantly. "If you shut up, I'll hold your hand the rest of the way."

Siida brightened, nodded, and stuck her hand out when Tom-Tom started moving. The youth turned back to them, his cheeks stained scarlet. "Well? We don't have all night."

Zuko turned to Katara. "Perhaps naming surly young rebels heirs to the throne should become a tradition."

"There's an idea," Katara said. She took his hand. "But let's make it out of this alive first."

They got two steps when Toph said: "Trouble."

Zuko pushed Katara behind him. Tom-Tom picked Siida right up off the floor. Saya, carrying Kurzu, melted back into the shadows. Ling reached for her hair-sticks. True to form, Toph, Sokka, and Suki took point positions. Zuko drew his swords. They waited.

Nothing happened.

"False alarm," Toph said. "I see two of them down the other hall. They're, uh, distracted."

Sokka relaxed. "You know what they say about sages…"

Toph promptly used the stones to send him to his feet. They kept walking. Zuko took the lead. He started feeling better. He knew the layout well enough by now. This time of night, the sages were mostly quiet. Few of them thought to patrol the halls. If they were to encounter trouble, it would most likely come in the form of-

-"Hey, what are you guys doing here?"

It was a small boy in peasant garb and dirty shoes -- possibly a pilgrim. He still had his finger half-stuck in his right ear. As he backed away, he opened his mouth and started shouting: _"Intruders! Intruders!"_

"Aw, damn," Toph said. "Sparky! We're gonna have company!"

Zuko heard the steps. The stones shook around them. "Run!"

Saya charged ahead, clutching Sora's hand. Tom-Tom followed with Siida and Senzo. He took the lead: "This way!" They disappeared around a corner.

"Do we stay and fight?" Sokka asked, drawing his sword.

A pilgrim woman skidded in from the opposite corner. "Shin! Where have you been? Why are you-" She stopped short and stared at Zuko. Instantly she was kneeling. "My Lord."

"Nice to know someone recognizes me," Zuko said.

"How can I serve you, my Lord?"

"You can act like you never saw me. And you can get up off the floor." He offered her a hand up.

The boy was staring. "Wait, you're-"

"I'm not here," Zuko said. He gestured to the others. "Get moving. Find the kids."

"My Lord, why are you-"

_"Intruders!"_ the Fire Sages called. _"Search the perimeter!"_

"It's a long story," Zuko told the woman. "But I'm in your debt."

The woman smiled and shook her head. "We came here because it's the place for people who remain loyal. Your secret is safe with me."

_"Find them!"_

"This nation still belongs to you, my Lord," she said.

"No," Zuko said, already preparing to run. "It belongs to _you._"

≅

Zuko found that Tom-Tom had already opened the final door. He was ushering the others through, hooks out, eyes alert.

"You're a natural," Zuko said, levering himself on a stone lip and sliding through.

"Could you possibly have taken any longer?" Tom-Tom slammed the door behind them. Then they were moving down a damp, dark chute. Up ahead, Zuko heard the children squealing. They emerged on a dank embankment beside a pile of supplies. A river flowed at their feet.

"So, the secret river," Sokka said. "Is there a punchline in here, somewhere?"

Zuko turned to Katara. "Raise it."

Grinning, she braced her feet and lifted her palms. The water surged and suddenly the top half of a submersible craft emerged. Sokka's two hands came up to clutch his hair. "Sparky. You didn't."

"My father's engineers kept one after the eclipse," Zuko said. "They were thought too valuable to destroy entirely."

"Damn straight," Sokka said. "Kids, you're looking at a little piece of history."

"Sometime tonight, please?" Katara nodded toward the submersible. "I can't keep holding it forever."

"It still works?" Suki asked.

"She was in dry-dock for most of the time," Zuko said, picking up a few packs. "We made a few special modifications."

The kids were already clambering atop the craft. Tom-Tom un-twisted the hatch and popped it open. Crowing, Senzo slid down the ladder. Ling ushered the other children down. Toph followed, groaning: "I hate these things…" Sokka gleefully escorted his wife onto the craft.

Katara turned to him. "When you're good, you're really good."

"One does one's best."

Once inside the craft, Zuko re-sealed the hatch behind them. Katara let the craft sink again -- everyone groaned at the sudden lurch in their stomachs -- and prepared to bend them out of the harbor. "This would be a lot easier with another bender around," she said, gritting her teeth.

"About that," Zuko said, pulling aside a canvas sheet and unveiling the cockpit. It featured two new seats with pedals. He sat in one. Sokka took the other. The other man started pushing, and his face lit up.

"A flywheel motor! Why didn't I think of that?"

"You had waterbenders. We didn't."

"It's not too fast, but with Katara's bending…"

The craft lurched forward. "Need a push?" Katara asked, swinging her arms. And they were off.

"This is so awesome," Senzo said.

Toph curled up on the floor with her head in Ling's lap. "It's so not."

Zuko tapped the tiller. "She's all yours, captain."

Sokka's eyes practically glowed. He flexed his fingers before taking the tiller. His knuckles cracked. "Steady as she goes, Katara."

She snorted. "Just give me a heading, Sokka."

Sokka turned. "Where we headed?"

"North."

"But Ember Island's south," Tom-Tom said.

Zuko stopped pedaling briefly as he twisted in his seat. "We're not going to Ember Island."

≅

**I hope you all enjoyed that! It was a long time in coming. Please leave reviews! And please rec the fic to anyone you think might like it! I had no idea what recs could do until Irrel rec'd "Mending" over at DA. Wow. That was a fun night. (Thanks, Irrel!) **

**Thanks again to all my reviewers and fan-artists! You guys make it worthwhile!**


	20. Chapter 19

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**Fandomme  
Summary: Twelve years after the final battle, Zuko summons Katara to help heal the victims of an epidemic sweeping the Fire Nation.**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of VIACOM and Nickelodeon. No profit is made by this story.**

**Notes: Thanks to everyone who has stuck by me this far. You all have made it a joy to work on this story. I had no clue that OV would get to be this big, or this special, or that it would do crazy things like inspire fan-art or keep some readers up all night (you know who you are!). It will all be over soon, and you have made the hard work worthwhile. **

≅

They pulled ashore the next day at mid-morning. Zuko's legs trembled as he pulled himself and a sleeping Sora out of the submersible. The air and light were enough to wake him: he tasted salt and savored the feel of sunlight after so many hours trapped in the dank, bare cabin.

"Any time now," Tom-Tom said, peering at him from over the hatch.

"Oh, right." Zuko handed Sora to Tom-Tom, then levered himself the rest of the way. Katara emerged last; together they sealed the hatch and they hopped down into the water before she let the craft sink.

Staring at it, Katara looked from one corner of the cave out to the open sea on their right. "Are you sure no one will find it?"

"The water here is very deep," Zuko said. "At least, that's what my mother used to say."

Exhausted, they climbed from the cave up outcroppings of slippery, moss-covered black basalt to a gently-sloped plateau. And from there you could see it: the farm, his mother's property, one of the few things she hadn't had to give up upon marrying Ozai. The stucco-and-tile house sat high on the plateau, ringed by rocks and sea on one side and orchards on the other. Some of the palace food supply still came from this farm: it produced the sweetest, juiciest dragon-hearts in the country. He saw pre-fabricated hives for bee-keeping, and a toolshed. A shallow, under-used road led slowly upward toward the farm. He wondered when the caretakers had last seen a crowd this size.

"What's that?" Senzo asked, coming to stand at his right.

"That's where my mother used to live every summer," Zuko said. He pointed to her crest at the gate: a bear's claw-print on gold.

Zuko felt Tom-Tom fall into step on his left. The boy was carrying Kurzu, and for a moment they were a whole generation of men staring at the land and sea. Zuko heard birds, squinted up at them. "Does it have a name?" Senzo asked.

Zuko rested his hand on his nephew's right shoulder. The crying birds wheeled above them, and waves crashed below green land. "Safe harbor."

≅

The caretaker, an elderly man named Bao Juu and his wife, Cho Ahn, were scurrying about the house opening rooms when Zuko collapsed inside the farmhouse kitchen and promptly fell asleep in his chair. He woke and someone had put Kurzu in his lap; the child slept on. Someone had made tea and put it at his elbow; it had gone cold. He heated it quickly.

"Someone looks comfy," Katara said, breezing into the room.

His voice croaked. "Don't you want to sleep?"

"I will, when our room is ready."

He smiled, blinked, and wiped sleep from his eyes. "Suki?"

"Resting."

He nodded. "Good." More tea was necessary. And quite possibly alcohol. He wanted to sleep forever. "The kids?"

"Climbing trees with Toph and Ling." She folded her arms and peered out from the kitchen to a shuttered lanai separating the house from the kitchen garden and outdoor oven. It was afternoon, now; the shadows slanted blue and sharp, and the sun boiled golden down toward the sea. "I can see why you didn't want to give this place up."

"It was my mother's," he said.

"It's beautiful." She hugged her arms. This close to the sea it was cooler; he noticed a threadbare shawl about her shoulders. "Did you come here a lot when you were little?"

"Not often. Ozai hated it. So did Azula. There was nothing for her to do here but torment small animals."

"Well _I_ like it."

Zuko smiled and held a hand out. Katara stood beside him and he leaned his head against her belly. Her fingers threaded in his hair. His eyes fluttered closed. "When will that room be ready?"

"Cho Ahn says any minute, now."

He dug into her a little. "Someone's become the lady of the manor rather quickly."

"I'm good at giving orders. Ask Sokka."

"Oh, I remember. Believe me."

The sound of a woman clearing her throat gave him reason to open his eyes. Cho Ahn stood there, hunched and shy, looking pointedly away from the Fire Lord, the Bloodbender, and their rumored bastard. "My Lord, your room is…"

"Lovely," Katara said. "Come on, Sparky. Up and at 'em."

"My legs won't move…"

"Sure they will. There's a nice warm bed waiting for you upstairs…"

He stood with her help. She looped his free arm about her shoulders. "I feel like an old man…"

She turned in his arms and squinted at him. "You know, you're right," she said, eyes widening. "I think I see a gray hair!"

"Maybe you should conduct a more thorough inspection," he said, nodding toward the stairs. "Move." Zuko turned and Cho Ahn's sun-weathered face was more than faintly pink. "Thank you, Cho Ahn."

"It's good to have you back, my Lord," she said, bowing. "Your mother would be pleased."

He had no idea what to say to that, so he simply smiled again and followed Katara up the stairs.

≅

In the bedroom, Katara shucked off her dress and he molded up close to her -- she held Kurzu and he held her -- and he had enough time to say "This is right," before sleep claimed him completely.

When he woke it was evening and the sun was just a violet line between the sea and the sky that he perceived through half-shuttered windows. He lay on his back. Glowing blue water swathed his legs. "I'm just taking some of the soreness away," Katara said.

"Don't you ever rest?"

"Full moon tonight; it's hard to sleep."

Zuko turned to say something to Kurzu about his mother being a madwoman, but the child was gone. He blinked, turned, and saw Kurzu standing up in a crib, cheerfully gnawing the rails. "You found a crib?"

"Cho Ahn did."

He squinted. "That's probably the one my mother used for Azula and me. And the one her mother used for her."

"Oh, so an antique?"

"Very funny." He smelled fire. "Is something burning?"

"Saya and Tom-Tom made a firepit. Sokka took the boys hunting. Now they're all out there cooking 'tasty little meat-creatures.'" She smiled. "Suki's out there too. I asked her if she wanted to rest, but she said being with the kids helps."

Zuko's good eyebrow lifted. "So we have the house to ourselves?"

The water momentarily lifted from his legs and snapped across his stomach. He doubled over. Gloving his hands in fire, he raised them: "Looks like they're fighting again," he heard Senzo say from the lawn below. The boy likely had no idea his voice carried so far. "You can see the flashes."

"Yeah, fighting, that's it," Toph said.

"What does she _see_ in him?" Tom-Tom asked.

"Wouldn't know," Zuko heard Toph say. "I don't see much."

Sokka spoke up: "Let me tell you the one about the saber-toothed moose-lion cub…"

"_Daaad_, you told us that story an hour ago! You tell it every time we go hunting!"

"But Sora wasn't there to hear it!" Zuko watched Katara try to restrain her laughter. She held a hand over her mouth as her shoulders shook. "Now, once upon a time, there was a fuzzy little meat creature named Foo-Foo Cuddlypoops…"

"Was it a boy or a girl?" Sora asked.

"Uh…"

Barely keeping her giggles in check, Katara sent two ribbons of water back to their respective skins. Zuko held his hands out, and she crawled up along the mattress to lie down beside him. Her hair tickled his chin. For a moment they were just two people, her arms around him and his around her, and he could let other concerns drift away. _This is what it's for. This is what it was all for -- Ozai and Aang and all of it. It was so we could have this moment. _

"I like this part," Katara said.

"I like this part, too." He linked their hands. "I have something to tell you."

"Oh?"

"You won't like it."

"You want another baby," Katara said.

"Are you offering?"

She pinched him. He pried her hand away from his side and enlaced their fingers again. He kissed her scalp and set his chin over her head. "I told your brother."

"Uh, he kind of already knew about us…"

"Not about that. About Aang. About you and Aang. And the baby."

She went rigid in his arms. He shut his eyes and willed his heart to leave his throat. "When?"

"Before we left."

Katara sat up. His skin felt cold, suddenly. He opened his eyes and she was sitting on the edge of the bed, hands between her knees, shoulders slumped. _"Why?"_

"I…" Zuko threw his head back on the pillows. "It was…" His hands fisted. "It was tearing the two of you apart."

"That's _my_ call to make, not yours." Her voice had taken on an edge. He winced.

"I worried about telling him-"

"Apparently not enough to ask _me_ about it, even though it was _my _story and _my_ baby and _my_ marriage!"

"You were never going to tell him!"

"So what? He didn't need to know!"

"Secrets like that can destroy an entire family! I should know!"

Katara made to speak, but stopped short. She mastered her breathing and turned to him. "_This_ is why I'm scared to be with you, Zuko. Moments like this. When you just go ahead and make all these decisions and don't tell anybody." She leaned forward. "How am I supposed to give up my whole life at the Temple just to join someone who won't even include me?"

"I _do_ include-"

"No. You ask me for help, sometimes. That's not the same."

"You think it's _easy_ asking you for help? You think I _like_-"

"No, I don't," Katara said. "I don't think you like it at all. I think you wish you could take care of everything all by yourself and not have to depend on anybody." She reached for his hand and squeezed it. "But that's not how life works, Zuko. In real life, you need help. And that means partnerships. But you can't establish a partnership with someone when you don't include them in your decisions."

He looked at their two hands. It was oddly like that moment on the ship to Tetsushi, her small palm in his long fingers. His voice came out rougher than he wanted: "What are you saying?"

"I don't know," she said. "Don't you have anything to say?"

He rubbed a thumb over her knuckles. "I…" Why was this so difficult? "I seem to… I have a history of doing what I think is right at the time, only to realize later that I made the wrong choice. So I have to make up for it." He squeezed her hand and covered it with both of his. "Everything I've ever accomplished, I've had to work hard for. But it's been worth it."

Katara frowned. "No one's disputing your accomplishments, Zuko."

"What I'm trying to say is…I'm going to fail. A lot." He raised his eyes. "I've never figured anything out the easy way. It's hard for me to listen to other people. I have to learn things on my own. So I make mistakes all the time. This isn't any different. I'm going to make mistakes -- I _have_ made mistakes -- with you. And I probably always will, until I die." His head tilted. "Which, given the past few days, could be any time now."

Katara laughed. "I certainly hope not."

"Well, that's charitable of you." He looked at their hands again. "If you think you can put up with that, then we can keep going on like this. If not, then…" _Say it's okay. Pretend it's okay. Be mature. Be a grown-up._ "Then… Then I'll chase you to the ends of the earth."

She grinned. "Zuko never gives up."

He kissed her hand. "Not without a fight." He rose, stretched, and moved toward the crib. Kurzu held his little arms up, and Zuko lifted him. "You're getting heavier by the day…"

"Hey," Katara said. He turned. She was looking at the coverlet. "You think you could maybe put up with an overbearing, stubborn, hot-headed, matronly, know-it-all Water Tribe peasant?"

_Matronly? Where does she get this stuff? _"Only if there are bending battles."

She snorted. "That goes without saying."

≅

Thick clouds scudded over the moon and the sea brought a chill to the breeze as the fire flickered and danced before them. The children took turns roasting yams on long sticks over the fire: "Don't hold it so long, it'll fall, you're losing it!" Sokka bragged about the Kyoshi dry rub: "Zuko, I know you like it spicy, but you gotta let the meat mellow out a little, otherwise you'll get an ulcer…"

"Meat _mellows out?_" Tom-Tom asked. "What is it, a nomadic musician?" Zuko held out his mug and they clinked together. The boy was smiling. For a moment in the blurring shadows Zuko saw what he would look like as a man: tall and thin like Mai had been, sharp-featured, but perhaps a little better at smiling.

"Hey, Tom-Tom, do you know the Secret Tunnel song?" Senzo asked.

"The what now?"

Senzo, Saya, Siida, and Sora burst out with: _"SECRET TUNNEL! SECRET TUNNEL! SECRET SECRET SECRET SECRET TUNNEL!"_

Senzo jumped up and mimed strumming a lute. His hand rolled through the air as he spread his feet. "And _diiiiiiied._"

And then he was in chains.

The manacles whistled down from somewhere in the trees. They were long, and they yanked Senzo straight up off the ground. But Saya was already rising with him on a pillar of earth, and her arms were out: _"Give me back my brother!"_

Suki was moving, fans out: "Saya, no!"

And Toph was in the air, too -- Zuko saw her arc over the fire, limbs askew, and she didn't so much break the chains as snap them. Long bones of steel crunched together in her two fists. "Toph!" Zuko shouted.

"On it!" She stomped on foot, brought her hands high, and they were in a tent of earth. Senzo crawled away, his hands and feet trailing steel. Suki had gone white. Something exploded on one wall of the earth-tent; dirt rattled down on all of them. Sora was crying. Kurzu wailed.

"Toph," Sokka said. "How many?"

Her white lips made a small line. "Too many."

Tom-Tom had his hooks out. He used them to pick at the odd chains that once held Senzo. "What…"

Zuko remembered where he had seen those manacles before. And then his stomach plummeted, because it all made sense: the way the Funshutsu couldn't be tracked, their remarkable skill at dispatching and deposing leaders, their headquarters _hidden in a wine cellar_, how they influenced local culture, how they suddenly appeared as though from underground. _"I brought a little souvenir from Ba Sing Se,"_ Azula had told Ozai, once. _"Dai Li agents." _

Suki was talking: "But the Dai Li were-"

"Former employees of Azula," Zuko said. "And now the dregs are staging a coup."

Katara frowned. "How did they know we were here?"

"Someone betrayed us," Sokka said.

Toph's eyebrows twitched. "They're underground. Must have held off before, they knew I'd feel 'em coming."

"How long?"

"Not long enough."

Zuko turned to Sokka and Suki and the children. They had all drawn together around Senzo. Saya still held him as though she expected him to fly away. "I'm sorry."

Sokka was kneeling at the fire. He smeared ashes across his eyes. For a moment, Zuko saw the boy that had faced him that first day at the South Pole. Then Sokka rose and the man stood there, blue eyes bright against the ash, beard already sparkling with sweat. Sokka's sword whispered free of its sheath. Zuko found the sound strangely comforting. "Let's do this."

Zuko turned to Katara. She nodded to him. Her water-whips hovered near her face. He put a hand on Toph's shoulder. "Now."

Toph stomped one foot, raised her hands, and the earth beneath them shot upward. He saw the battlefield for the first time. It crawled with hundreds of men and women, firebenders and earthbenders judging from the attacks, their dark shapes moving in the orchards and on the grounds and _dear sages why are there so many, how can there be so many, am I that much of a failure? _A flaming boulder soared past them; the children shrieked.

His lips firmed. "Open the earth."

Toph frowned. "What-"

_"Do it!" _

Toph shrugged, turned on her heel, and brought her whole fist into the earth. The seam opened from there; the ground shuddered and cracked in a long jagged line stretching from her fist into the darkness. She made a ripping motion and the ground sheared like torn cloth. She straightened. "Now what-"

But he was already moving. He sent his awareness deep into the pit of his oldest fires and his arms made a form like flocking birds, they were rising -- _I learned this from watching waterbenders_ -- and fire boiled up through the crack in the earth. Lava surged in a burst of liquid orange heat. He raised it like a wave, drew it higher, his arms shook and the people below screamed -- _I love you as my own _-- as he split the wave. Lava pooled sideways, ringed their little tower. The screaming ceased, smothered in a tide of brilliant golden death.

He stared at his mother's orchards consumed by flames. Then there was a pair of stone hands near his face, and a flash of metal, and he was staring at Tom-Tom's whirling body. And the losses -- his birthright, his people, his sanity -- no longer bit so deep.

"They're on the move," Toph said behind him. He saw them, too: men skating along the lava on bits of rock, sending up fire and sparks in their wake. The family formed a defensive circle around the children. The invaders leapt and he'd know that Dai Li run anywhere, they moved straight up the tower. Toph did something with her hands and spikes sprang forth from the tower; the Dai Li skated around or used them as footholds. Then they were over the top, in the air, and Zuko saw Ling's wires glittering darkly: suddenly they weren't men but meat, dripping and falling, devoured by flame. Blood misted over his eyes; he had to close them-

A stone fist sent Zuko flying. He skidded and nearly fell off the tower entirely. His fingers clawed dirt and he flipped over -- the sky was orange and purple -- with fire trailing from his feet. He landed just as Sokka's sword plunged into the other man. Dai Li were in the air; fire whips were in Zuko's hands. He stood beside Katara and Sokka stood beside her and Toph beside him -- _oh look, a whole team of traitors --_ Toph ripped rocks from the earth and sent them flying, Sokka's sword flashed in his hands, Katara bent steam from the lava and it sizzled, searing hot, into the groaning faces of their enemies before evaporating.

"It's too hot! My water's going out!" Katara pushed yet another tide of humanity away with just her water-whip. They kept coming. Zuko whirled and the man before them no longer had a head.

"Find some more!" Sokka yelled. Fire screamed through the sky toward them; a boulder soared close to Toph and she punched straight through it. Cool, damp wind coasted over Zuko's sweating face. He looked up. There behind the clouds was the moon, full and bright, and he saw a ghost of a glow there.

Katara stared at the moon, too. "There's another way." Tears appeared in her eyes. The clash and clang of the battle diminished. Suddenly there was just the sound of Katara's breathing, and his son's crying, and his own blood in his ears.

His hand found her face. "The Fire Lady before you killed to save her family."

Katara blinked and tears rolled down her face. "Stand back!" They did. She was already moving when she spoke: "Suki. Cover their eyes."

Her body swam up through the darkness. Their enemies charged upward, leapt through the air, she let them come, let them mass up, smirking in homespun uniforms of red and green, ten men deep-

-and her arms were scythes that cut them all down, fluids sucked straight through their skin, they fell as dry husks, useless chaff. A thick shining wheel of their blood spun above her head. Zuko blasted their paper-thin bodies away with a jet of flame. Their ashes coated his boots.

That ash plumed upward as three bodies rocketed up through the tower and fell down again. Zuko counted a Dai Li agent -- his skin looking somehow older than his uniform -- and a firebender -- a country boy by the look of things -- and-

"Shuzi," Katara said.

"My baby," Kurzu's nanny said, holding out a bundle of cloth. "Please take-"

"It was _you_," Sokka said. His voice was venom. His sword was out. "My wife, my _child_-"

"She passed the test!" Toph shouted. "How-"

"Shuzi, your people need you," the Dai Li agent said. Zuko didn't recognize him, but he recognized the effect of his words: Shuzi's eyes went blank, her posture slackened. She reached into a pocket and retrieved a small vial. And then she began shaking it out. _She poisoned the food. She poisoned Kurzu. She killed Sokka's child. And she had no idea. _A flicker of control there in her eyes and she said, almost apologetically: "You didn't pack the children's beach clothes, my Lord."

"Shut up," Sokka said, and his sword was in her, and in the Dai Li too, and it made a wet rasp as he twisted it. Blood bubbled out of her mouth. Her arms flopped uselessly; her baby tumbled down-

-and Sokka caught the daughter of his child's killer, the blankets soaked with blood already and the child squalling worse than Kurzu, and he handed her to Suki.

"You'll never stop us," the Fire Nation boy said. "There are too many of us; we're taking this country back with the Funshutsu's help and there's nothing you can do to stop it-"

"Oh, spare me," Tom-Tom said, and his hooks neatly ripped the other boy in half. Tom-Tom spat. "I can't believe I used to…" Growling, he kicked the youth's remains over the side.

"They used you to get to me," Zuko said. "They would have continued to do so, if I hadn't killed Yun Zi. Dear sages, they could have…"

"You got played," Toph said.

"That boy was right about one thing," Ling said crisply. "There are too many of them. We need a different strategy. Soon."

Zuko looked at the battlefield. Ling's assessment was cruelly accurate. Their enemies crawled like spiders among the trees and along the lava. Wind gusted and Zuko felt rain in it. He looked up and the clouds had thickened. He looked down and his family stared hollowly at him, his nieces and nephew cowered, his son and his son's nurse-mate roared their infant fear from Suki's arms. Sokka's breath heaved. Katara spun her cloud of blood tiredly.

"Toph," he said. "Get them underground."

"Don't order me, Sparky-"

"I'm not ordering you." He brushed a length of black hair from her sightless eyes -- she'd never know how much she looked like Azula, with her hair like that -- and said: "I'm asking you. Please. Take care of them."

She blinked, caught his wrist. "If you die, I'll _kill_ you."

"I know." He reached into his belt, withdrew the dagger and the relic crown. He handed them to Tom-Tom. "See that my son gets these."

"Whatever you're about to do is appallingly stupid, isn't it?" Tom-Tom asked.

He didn't answer. Toph opened a hole in the center of the tower. Suki and Ling shepherded the children down. Tom-Tom followed. Toph jumped down. Sokka stared as Katara moved closer to Zuko and Zuko braced his feet, started stirring the air with his hands: "You'll do better with water to direct it."

Zuko smiled ruefully. "Just this once, can't I save you from the pirates?"

Katara was moving, spinning the cloud of blood above their heads. "Nope."

He sighed and assumed his stance. His arms moved in opposing circles. He leaned in, leaned out. Circles. Push. Pull. Faster. He thought of two fish, one black, one white, in the most beautiful oasis he'd ever visited. Katara followed him, mirrored him, complemented him. She leaned and he leaned, their bodies twisting and arcing.

"Ling's wires," he said, teeth chattering. Fiery rocks landed nearby; they shook on their feet.

She bent their shared sweat into the water. His hair began to stand on end. "I know."

"Don't touch-"

"I know-"

The rope of water and blood between them spiraled upward. It stirred the clouds. Push. Pull. Faster. Faster. _Faster._ _FASTER._ The first blue sparks skittered across his fingers. _Aang, if you're watching... _The vortex in the clouds became the vortex in his hands:

The first bolt bolt crackled down brightly through blood and steam to the dancing, tentacled thing above their heads. Zuko felt it fizz across the water and the spin made thin blades of blue light in red blood, each reaching inside the hearts of their enemies and leaving behind only smoke. Katara kept it spinning. Men and women kept falling, their bodies twitching and sparking. Zuko pulled and the lightning was there, it sizzled down and he directed it along crab-like legs of water. Katara's gaze was his and she moved the water and he moved the light as thunder shattered the air over and over, the battlefield dark now save for the flashes, he heard shouts and the call for retreat but he didn't stop, he would never stop because it would never be over -- _I've decided banishment is too lenient for traitors-_

"Too fast," she said, panting. But his hands were full of cold fire. He was the lightning, the lightning was him. He had a thousand arms of water and light, and they all meant death. _If you're lucky, you'll never have to use this technique._

He looked and he saw their bitter work, saw charred shells of human beings, saw himself losing control and a white orb of light and Katara's eyes. Katara's eyes. Blue. A hum filling his teeth. _My heart._

He fell.

≅

_"Sometimes, you forget. He's a really powerful bender."_

_He sits up and they're in the sky and Appa needs a wash in the worst way. Clouds float past them. He does a headcount: Katara, Iroh, Sokka, Suki, Toph, everyone, the saddle expands and all their allies are soaring through a warm blue summer but something's wrong_..._ "My son," he says, in a voice that's twelve years too young. "Where's my son? Kurzu! Kurzu!"_

_He looks and there are so many people, fighters whose names he can't remember, men like giants, and him in his dirty traveling clothes and his shaggy hair and his hatred of flying on unpredictable animals. There's a song and a pot of tea and Katara is laughing. When he shouts she doesn't hear him. She wears her blue dress and tosses her braid. "Where did you put him? Where is he?" The wind carries his words away._

_"Relax, Zu-Zu," someone says. Zuko turns. Aang wears his arrow proudly. He beams. "You need to learn to take it easy."_

_"I need to find my son."_

_"You already have." Aang shrugs. "Don't worry. He's here. Katara wouldn't let him get very far." _

_"You don't understand. He's my child. I'm responsible. I can't let anything happen. I can't fail."_

_Aang brings out his recorder. His little fingers drift across each opening. "It's nice having the family together again." _

_"You're not listening-"_

_"Take a look around," Aang says. "What do you see?"_

_Zuko looks and Aang's face is blurring at the edges, now young, now old, now smiling, now glowing, and there are a thousand voices inside his one, and he is ancient and childish and he smiles and it's like a bridge and suddenly Zuko feels something unfold inside himself, light and delicate and important as a white lotus. He looks down -- hates looking down -- and there's the tower, broken and surrounded by scorched earth._

_"See how small it is?"_

_He nods._

_"When you're up here -- when you're with the people who matter -- that's how small everything else is." _

_Zuko turns and Aang is a child now, but a moment ago he was Katara's husband and the moment before that he was the end of an era. "I'm sor-"_

_Aang whaps him over the head with the recorder. "Don't you remember what you said, Zuko?" The boy -- the man, the legend, the last airbender -- smiles. "Strength never lies with just one person. It's shared among many people." He gestures and the saddle is like a field of stars, glittering, singing. "Look how strong we are." _

_And then he's falling but he's also swimming and he's cold but he can break through if he just tries, he can shatter any wall and he can find his destiny and he will never, ever give up without a fight._

≅

When he awoke the first time, Zuko almost shouted against the pain. His muscles felt as though someone had scraped them with a garden rake. His jaw ached. Tears welled up in his good eye. When he opened it, he saw his son resting, thumb firmly planted in mouth, against his right side. By smell and texture and the sound of her breathing, he identified Katara to his left. Her fingers circled his left hand. And when he flexed the wrist, he found it wrapped in leather, felt the old Water Tribe pendant there in his palm like cool, smooth comfort, like it was always supposed to be.

≅

The second time, Toph was there, and she held his right wrist in her hands with two fingers pressed to his vein. Sunlight showed up the streaks of dirt across her face, the odd spatter of blood in her hair. He gripped her hand.

"Hey, Sparky," she said. Her voice was tiny.

"W…Water."

"Oh, right." Her blind fingers reached for a cup. "Uh, you'll have to do it yourself…"

Zuko worked to grip the cup and bring it to his lips. Some of it sloshed down his chin, but enough went past his throat to make talking less like chewing nails. It soaked down into a bandage stretching across his chest. He coughed and tasted blood. "That's gotta hurt," Toph said.

"I've felt better."

"You don't say."

He lay back against the pillows. "What happened?"

"Your heart stopped. Katara re-started it. Got the blood flowing again."

His eyes were already closing. "She's a master…"

"She says the wound should heal up pretty nice, since she got to it so fast."

"Wound?"

Two grubby fingers found the bandage. Pain rippled up under the pressure. "Now you and Twinkletoes have even more in common."

≅

The third day, Iroh came. He arrived via war balloon. Zuko heard him on the stairs before the doors slammed open and the old man stood there panting, white hair askew, spotted hands streaked with ash from his own bending. They stared at one another for a moment before Iroh said: "Zuko. You're all right."

Zuko tried to laugh, but it hurt terribly. "You don't look so bad yourself."

Iroh crossed the room in two steps. He gripped Zuko's right hand in his two dry, stiff ones. They trembled. "Katara says there's a hole in you."

Zuko's good eye stung suddenly. "Uncle… I did something… I'm not proud of it…" He swallowed. "The lightning… My own people…"

Iroh was weeping. One of his hands smoothed Zuko's hair down. "Oh, my son," he said in his roughest voice. "Oh, my precious, precious boy."

≅

At the end of the week, Katara let him move. Iroh had lingered for only a night, then quickly spirited himself back to the palace before what remained of the Funshutsu -- what portion Zuko and Katara had not rendered to ash and soot -- tried to make another move. But by then, Zuko already had his idea in mind, and he had already practiced how to pitch it. Katara had helped during their nights alone, had asked the right questions and offered the right suggestions.

He came down the stairs with Bao Juu's help. The old man gave him the use of a crutch. Zuko entered the kitchen just as the family was sitting down to dinner at the long table. Candles flickered and he smelled meat -- Sokka had been busy.

"Hey there, Sparky," Toph said, having noticed his footsteps first.

The room stopped. Katara stared at him, keen-eyed from the other end of the table. Senzo froze mid-bite. Ling folded her hands in her lap and smiled. Sokka merely raised his mug. And Tom-Tom raised his. And then Suki, then Katara, then Ling, Cho Ahn and Bao Juu, the big kids and even little Sora until she asked: "Um, what's happening?"

"We're toasting your uncle," Suki said.

"Yeah, because he saved us," Senzo said. He raised a single finger and spoke in his best Iroh voice: _"Because that, my great-nephew, is what uncles do."_

Zuko laughed and a single tear leaked from his good eye. "That's right, nephew," he said. "That is what uncles do."

"Hear, hear," Sokka said.

"Down the hatch," Toph said. When she brought her mug away from her mouth, muk-ju froth ringed her upper lip. She belched.

"That was awesome, Aunt Toph!" Senzo said. Tom-Tom and Saya promptly slapped their foreheads.

"Can we eat, now?" Sora asked.

"In a minute, honey, Uncle Zuko wants to say something." Katara smiled encouragingly.

"Uh, right," Zuko said. His good ear pinked. _Hi. Zuko here._ "First…" He tried to stand straight but it hurt too much. "First, I'd like to thank you all. I've given you plenty of reason to kill me in my sleep, and you haven't done it. So thank you."

They laughed. _Good. Open with a joke. Always works. _

"And second…" He licked his lips. "Second…" He raised his head. Katara was watching him. And suddenly he knew what to say. "I've been thinking. A lot."

"Don't strain anything," Tom-Tom said. Saya punched him in the arm. He pulled her braid. Zuko watched them, made eye contact with Katara. She raised one eyebrow. Sokka buried his head in his hands.

"The Funshutsu wouldn't have been able to gain this much support if there weren't a crisis in this country," Zuko said. "The Fire Nation was at war for a hundred years. We're still learning how to live without it. Our industries and our identity were founded on conflict and aggression. I've tried to usher in an era of peace. But it's hard. And along the way I've forgotten some things.

"I forgot what a great team we make. I forgot that we could conquer any enemy if we just work together. I forgot that the children of this nation -- the children of all nations -- need teachers. And I forgot that I could ask for help.

"We could pursue armed conflict against the Funshutsu. We'll probably have to. But war is costly, and there are other things I'd rather spend our resources on." He cleared his throat. "I love this house. It was my mother's. It's the last thing I have left. And I don't want to give it up. But I think I want to share it."

"What are you saying?" Suki asked.

"We bring Katara's orphans here," Zuko said. "And we other invite children here to learn. All nations. All benders. And non-benders, too. Every child, everywhere, has the right to an education."

Toph's jaw dropped. "You're opening a _school?_"

"I'd like to," Zuko said. "And I'd like the greatest earthbender in the world to teach earthbending." To her credit, Toph blushed. Zuko turned to Sokka. "And I'd like a master swordsman and his best engineers to come with her." He looked at Katara. "And naturally, we'll need a master waterbender." Katara bit her lip. She brushed something from her eye.

"Two years ago," Zuko said, "I told you that Aang's greatest strength was his ability to rely on his companions and their gifts. But I didn't listen to my own advice." He found Katara's eyes again. "I can't do this on my own. I need you, and I want us to be together. Always."

"The whole family living together in one house again?" Sokka asked.

"It's worked well the past few days," Suki said. "And aren't you tired of never seeing your sister?"

Toph plunked her mug down. "Well, Sparky," she said, "I'm in."

Ling smiled. "Me too."

"Given that you're actually doing something I like for a change," Tom-Tom said, "I'm in."

Sokka leaned back in his chair. "You'd, uh, need to put in an extension," he said, gesturing around the house. His eyes followed his hands. "All new plumbing. Bigger kitchen. Have to clear some more land, get some livestock, start growing more food, it's a tall order-"

Suki grinned. "We're in."

"We're moving to the Fire Nation?" Senzo asked.

"Great sages, I'm stuck with you," Tom-Tom said, shaking his head.

"Can we _please_ eat?" Sora asked.

"Yes, you can eat," Katara said.

Upstairs, someone began squalling. Sokka jumped out of his chair. "That'll be Sa Ming," he said. "Katara, you said something about frozen hippo-cow milk…"

"Right there," she said, pointing to a block of ice on the lanai. She flicked her wrist and the ice melted; a ribbon of water carried a flask to Sokka's waiting hands. He held it out to Zuko. "Heat this up."

He did so, and watched, bewildered, as Sokka charged up the stairs. "Sa Ming?"

"Shuzi's baby," Katara said. "Looks like you're not the only one interested in adoption."

"More of them," Tom-Tom said. "Fantastic."

≅

Later, after the children were in bed and Sokka had polished off his last pipe and Ling was in the bath, it was just Zuko and Katara and Toph staring at the waning moon and the remnants of the farm. The trees were twisted and dark, charred beyond recognition, the earth ripped apart and pitted. The broken tower still stood; Saya and Toph now used it for earthbending practice.

"This place used to be beautiful," he said.

"Fire can help things grow," Toph said. "Every farmer knows that."

"It'll be beautiful again," Katara said, threading her arm through his. She plucked the pendant on his wrist. "Can I have that back for a second?"

"Sure," Zuko said, and unwrapped the necklace from about his wrist. _Maybe it didn't mean what you thought. Maybe she's reconsidered. Maybe-_

"Toph," Katara said. "I think I'm ready."

"'Bout time," Toph muttered, and produced a flat gold cuff from her sleeve. It gleamed uninterrupted save for a circular indentation in the center. He watched Katara separate the pendant from its leather band before setting it gently it inside the cuff.

"Okay," she said, voice thick. She pushed the cuff back to Toph. The earthbender held her fingers over it for just a moment, then her hand moved, and the gold swirled tightly around the pendant, setting it in place. Katara took it and held it between her fingers. Then she took hold of Zuko's left wrist. He was suddenly grateful that Toph couldn't see their faces.

"Would you…" Katara blinked hard. "Would you please wear this for me?"

"It's supposed to be me doing this," he said. "I'm supposed to be carving-"

"Oh, just say yes, you moron," Toph said, scrubbing something from her eye. "I worked my tail off on that thing…"

He looped an arm around her. Toph leaned against him. She blushed when he planted a kiss in her hair. He held out his wrist, looked into Katara's face. "Put it on."

Carefully, she slid the gold cuff over his hand. It was tight across his knuckles, but fit his wrist perfectly. She must have measured while he was asleep. When his hand moved, the pendant caught the light and glowed blue inside the gold. The waves were off-center, the gold slightly puckered around the stone. A little rough, but built to last.

"Ozai was right," he said, as his hand tangled in Katara's hair. "I was lucky to be born."

They kissed.

≅

_TO BE CONTINUED IN THE EPILOGUE_

**Notes: Well, there you have it, folks. **_**Ozai's Vengeance**_** is 99 finished. You all have made it a fantastic ride. I couldn't have done it without you. I'd especially like to thank Misora, RacheltheDemon, Renagrrl, Orepookpook, Ouatic7, AKA Vertigo, Manonlechat, and all my friends at LJ who encouraged me. I'd also like to thank Miz Sweet, PhantomZuko, and DragonJadefire at Livevideo, whose videos inspired some of the battle sequences in this story. And I should thank AKAVertigo again, as well as Irrel and Blue Moraine Sedai, for their fan-art. Please leave a review, tell your friends, rec the fic, draw me a picture, gimme some feedback. Flamio, hotmen!**


	21. Epilogue

**Ozai's Vengeance**

**EPILOGUE**

**Fandomme**

**Summary: Eleven years after the battle against the Funshutsu…**

**Disclaimer: ATLA is the property of VIACOM and Nickelodeon. No profit is made by this story.**

**Notes: Again, I want to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, drawn fan-art, or otherwise encouraged me. Watch out for an AU called **_**Stormbenders**_** coming soon to an Author Alert subscription near you.**

≅

_ELEVEN YEARS LATER_

Katara's eyes opened slowly. Another creak. _We really have to fix the lanai this summer._ She quickly shut them again, feigned sleep. He advanced slowly, carefully, quietly, with his old stealth still in his footsteps. She made her breathing slow and even. A hand descended into her hair, traced the rim of her exposed ear, her jaw, moved to her mouth.

She gave him a little bite.

"Faker," Zuko said.

"Pervert," she said. "Honestly, Zuko, taking liberties with a lady while she's _asleep?_"

The skin around his good eye crinkled. "It's been a lonely week."

"That," she said, "is something we can both agree on."

He settled beside her on the divan. Slowly, he began unbuckling his boots as he stared out onto the farm. Orchards stood high on the plateau, now protected by a break of slender gold-birches. Sokka had cleared the four acres nearest the school and made it training-space: a miniature quarry for Toph and Saya to teach, a man-made lake for Katara and her assistants, a circle of sand for Iroh and Tom-Tom. At the far corner of the training ground, on its own little patch of grass, stood Sokka's ever-expanding workshop. If Katara squinted, she could see Teo hammering something on an anvil while a firebending student carefully blew on the metal to keep it pliable.

Zuko set his boots and socks aside, flexed his feet. He looped an arm around her shoulders and sighed, closed his eyes. "So," she asked, "how did it go?"

Eyes still shut, he leaned over and began kissing her neck. "Don't want to talk about it."

"That bad, huh?"

"Mmm."

He pulled away, pinched his nose. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "They want me to hand the crown to Suzaku."

"We don't even know if she can bend, yet. She's too little."

"That's what I told them. But Kurzu's…" His hands briefly became fists. "'_Not the Fire Lord's true son,_' they said."

Katara made an indignant sound deep in her throat. "Those old goats can't bend half as well as Kurzu! Next time, I'm coming with you, and I'm telling those purist old fossils where to stick it!"

Zuko laughed. "Please do."

"I could make them all sign a decree of confidence for Kurzu. I could bloodbend their arms-"

"Sweetness," Zuko said. "Kurzu is twelve. We have time."

Katara hugged her arms. "Every time I think about this, I swear I get a rash."

"Maybe you need a bath," Zuko said, his fingers trailing up her spine.

She whirled on him. "Don't you dare try to distract me! This is our son's welfare we're talking about!"

"Our son is doing perfectly fine. He's having a lovely time. Look." Zuko pointed. He had an unerring eye for Kurzu's presence in a crowd, and could frequently pick him out from the other black-haired firebenders in a training squad. Currently, Kurzu stood beside the lake, pants rolled up to his knees, shirtless, blasting tiny fireballs at a waterbender named Pakak. Pakak quickly batted them away with a masterful rendition of a penta-pus. Katara sensed Zuko's attention perk up. "He does know how to pick them, doesn't he?"

Katara pinched him. "He's twelve!"

"Aang was twelve."

"This is different." She squinted. Kurzu tried again, seemed to miss on purpose. Pakak laughed and made a gesture that said _What, again?_ and they resumed practice. "Isn't it?"

"You're as blind as Toph." He leaned back against the divan. "Is she a good student?"

"One of the best."

"Family?"

"Zuko. You said it yourself. He's young. Let's not go asking the calligrapher for invitations just yet."

"My instincts-"

Katara's palm met her face. "Instincts. Why does it always have to be about instincts?" She stood. "You want to meet Pakak? Let's go meet her."

"I don't want to meet Pakak. I want to go upstairs and make up for lost time."

Katara smiled. "I'm coming home with you. We'll have plenty of time then." She looked back at their son. "Kurzu just seemed a little off; I thought I should stay a little longer…"

"Of course he's a little off! He's infatuated!"

Her smile became a real grin. Unbeknownst to her husband, he sounded more like Iroh every day. The metamorphosis was rather beautiful to watch. "So do you want to meet your future daughter-in-law or not?"

Zuko levered himself off the divan. He squared his shoulders. "I would like to see my children."

Zuko dug his toes into the grass before taking her hand and letting her lead him toward the water. With each step he took, she sensed the tension leaving him. This fight with his ministers had existed almost since she had formally adopted Kurzu and married Zuko. Zuko maintained he had the right to name his own heir; his ministers claimed the Fire Nation needed the stability only a genuine royal bloodline could provide. Half of them still privately believed Kurzu to be Katara's own child; they simply wanted her and Zuko to expose a scandal that did not exist. Now Zuko took regular retreats to the All Nations Academy every month with Katara. He needed to hear the sea, he needed to see something green, otherwise he'd end up as tightly-wound as he was when she first met him.

Seeing their children also helped. "Dad!" Kurzu straightened up and smiled at his father. Distracted, he didn't see Pakak's water-whip headed straight for his ankles. A moment later, he was on the ground.

Smirking, Pakak looked up to see Zuko and Katara giving her a look. Her blue eyes went huge and suddenly she was bowing. "My Lord! My Lady! I'm sorry!"

Zuko helped his son up. "You'll have to watch out for this one, Kurzu."

"Thanks, Dad." Kurzu neatly side-stepped his father's attempts to smooth down the rough thatch of black hair springing from his head. He was already developing the square jaw common in Southern Water Tribe men -- Katara was oddly reminded of her own father -- and he remained smaller than most children his age. But when he filled out he'd be compact and solid.

"I'm sorry," Pakak repeated, still staring at the ground.

"Consider it training for Fire Nation politics," Zuko said. "You're quite skilled."

Pakak's ears burned. "Thank you, my Lord. Lady Katara is a very good teacher."

"You have no idea." Zuko turned to her. "How many times did you sweep me off my feet?"

"I can _still_ sweep you off your feet."

"Are you challenging me?"

"Never," Katara said. She winked at Pakak. "It wouldn't do to injure your pride in front of all our students." Both children giggled.

Zuko sighed. "Pakak, my wife tells me it's Water Tribe custom that the woman is always right. Is this true?"

Pakak's teeth showed as she smiled. "I wouldn't know, my Lord. I'm from the Foggy Swamp."

"Pakak says I should try swamp-skiing," Kurzu said.

"Has Uncle Sokka told you his swamp-skiing story?" Katara asked.

"No…"

"Well, there's a reason for that." Katara noticed that Pakak's eyes had wandered in the direction of her throat. She touched her necklace. "Would you like to see?"

Pakak blushed anew. "No, that's okay, I-"

"She likes showing it off," Zuko said, as Katara unclasped the necklace. She held it out for Pakak to take. The girl carefully lifted it from Katara's fingers. She examined the strand of smooth amethysts first, running them through her fingers, before staring at the pendant. It was a fat tear-drop of mottled violet rimmed in gold filigree. Katara watched the girl hold it up to the afternoon sunlight; the light exposed the intricate spatters of color inside the pendant -- blue, red, even gold.

"I've never seen a stone like this," Pakak said.

"Dad made it," Kurzu said. "Well, Dad and Mom. With stormbending."

"When lightning touches down, it can be very hot," Zuko said in his teacher-voice. "Sometimes, it fuses the earth into this substance. The oxides in the ground can make special colors."

"Oxides?"

"Minerals. Special kinds of rock. They get tilled up when an earthbender makes a big seam in the ground, like the one that helped start this lake."

Pakak smiled. "You made this here?"

"That's right," Zuko said.

"It was during a big fight," Kurzu added. "Dad and Mom were all-" he made a waterbending form, sent a tongue of fire spiraling skyward. "Only it was water, and all this lightning came down, and then-" He split the fire into a shuriken, kept it spinning. "And then it touched down and-"

"Everyone's heard the story, Kurzu," Zuko said, resting a hand on his son's shoulder. Kurzu's fire dissolved. "The good news is those people can't hurt us, any more."

"Yeah, because the White Lo-"

_"Kurzu."_ The boy instantly clamped his lips shut.

Pakak squinted again at the pendant, then fixed Zuko with a look. "Um, I don't know if you know, but these are supposed to be carved."

Zuko threw his hands up. "There is no pleasing waterbenders! They-"

A high, thin scream sounded from the trees. Kurzu's eyes narrowed. "Suzaku."

The water seemed to launch him and Pakak both. They were off and running before Katara and Zuko could move. Their small arms knifed through the air as they charged toward the trees. Then Zuko was running, too, his bare feet pounding the grass flat. Katara took off after him. They crested the round of the hill and found Tom-Tom and Saya staring up at a creaking gold-birch. There in the tree was Suzaku, her dark curls askew, her amber eyes wide. She clung to the rough saffron bark of the tree. A wind came up and the tree groaned. Katara spied a rotten place where the tree had already begun to split.

Zuko turned to Tom-Tom. "How did she get up there?"

The firebending instructor looked guiltily at Saya. "We…"

Zuko growled. "I'll deal with you later."

Wind rattled the tree again; golden leaves drifted down and Suzaku shrieked: _"Daddy!"_

Zuko made to scale the nearest tree. "Suzaku! Stay there! Don't move!" The wind whistled. Katara heard splintering. Suzaku screamed. "Hang on, baby, I'm coming!"

But Pakak was zigzagging through the gathering crowd. Her slender, muddy foot connected with the bark above Zuko's head and she kicked away, arcing up and across. With the lightest of touches, she bounced from tree to tree. They stared up at her. Zuko backed away slowly. Katara stepped up to meet him. The wind rose. The tree swayed and their daughter cried. Blindly, Zuko reached behind him; their hands found each other and enlaced tightly. Pakak was still leaping; she pushed off the tree as though kicking off into water, her body twisting in mid-air as the tree snapped and their daughter fell into the waterbender's arms and Zuko's hand went to iron around Katara's. The tree fell with a shudder and a whisper of leaves; a quick-thinking Saya sent up two intersecting pillars of earth to break its fall. But Katara's eyes were on Pakak as she floated -- s_he floated_ -- down to earth.

Her heart hammered. Zuko's hand shook. Pakak's wet toes touched the grass and she let Suzaku -- her six-year-old face smeared with dirt and tears, her messy curls full of golden leaves -- slide down from her arms. Then Kurzu pushed forward and gripped Suzaku by the shoulders and shook her. In the silence of astonished children, he shouted: "Don't _ever_ do that again, Suzaku! You could have really hurt yourself! How did you even-"

"Kurzu," Zuko said in a rough voice. Katara recognized it; he was holding back tears. "Let your sister go."

"But Dad-"

"Son." He spoke with his father-voice, soft and loving with just a hint of steel underneath. Sighing, Kurzu let Suzaku's trembling shoulders go. Pakak blinked down at them; Katara had vague memories of the waterbender being an only child. Their daughter promptly launched herself anew at her brother.

"I'm sorry! I promise I won't do it again! I thought I could climb it! Please don't be mad!"

"See, that's just cute," Katara heard Senzo say, and wondered how quickly Sokka's son had run there.

"It's shameful what a sap you are," said Tom-Tom. There was the sound of his twin hooks moving before he directed his voice to the other children. "All right, the distraction has passed; it's almost time for more lessons!"

A collective wail arose. "But Sifu Tom-Tom, Sifu Senzo…"

Saya joined in: "Move it!"

The three adults herded their charges away from the tree. But as they did, Senzo turned and cast a lingering look at his cousins. Then it was just Katara and Zuko and Pakak and their children. Suzaku continued sniffling. His cheeks pink, Kurzu patted her head. "I didn't mean to make you cry, Suzaku, I'm sorry…"

Suzaku risked a look at her father from very puffy eyes. "Am I in trouble?"

"Yes," Zuko said. "But you're also safe, and that's the most important thing." He opened his arms. He plucked the air with his fingers. Suzaku ran for him and jumped up. Zuko grunted as he lifted her, shutting his eyes briefly as he cradled her head against his neck.

"I love you, Daddy."

"I love you too, my darling." He tilted her chin up to face him. "But you're still in trouble. And you're too big for me to carry you." He set her down. Suzaku pouted and crossed her arms.

"Don't be that way, Suzaku," Katara said in a warning tone. "You should thank Pakak, and then we should think of something nice to do for her."

Pakak shifted weight. "Oh, that's all right, I'm just good at climbing…"

"Good at climbing," Zuko said. "Right." His funny little smile played across his face. He squeezed Katara's hand. "Whatever you say, Twinkletoes."

Kurzu turned to him. "Hey, how did you know about that? Aunt Toph said that was Pakak's secret codename!"

Katara was blinking hard. "Secret codename?"

"For late-night kitchen re-con," Kurzu said.

"What's re-con?" Suzaku asked.

"It means midnight snacks," Pakak said. Again, she blushed. "I mean, not that I would… Sifu Toph said…"

"Sifu Toph bends rules like they're mud," Zuko said. "She also loves her midnight snacks." He broke Katara's grip, bowed to Pakak, and saluted her. "It's a perfect nickname. And I am in your debt."

"Oh! Um…" Pakak tried to salute back. "Right. Sure."

Zuko rose. Katara saw him reach hesitantly for Pakak. He wanted to hug her, Katara could tell, but didn't want to frighten her. Instead he settled for plucking a twig from her hair. "I'm glad you're here," he said. "You're… You're a talented kid."

"Dad, you're embarrassing her," Kurzu said under his breath.

The bell gonged in its tower, announcing a shift between lessons and duties. "That's kitchen duty for us," Pakak said, clearly relieved at her chance to escape. "Come on, Kurzu."

"Man, I hate kitchen duty…" The boy trudged after her.

"Just be lucky I don't make you eat a giant bug!"

He brightened. "Giant bugs? There are giant bugs in the Foggy Swamp?"

"Boys are nasty," Suzaku said, watching her brother chase after Pakak.

"Shouldn't you be with Master Sho, practicing your writing?" Katara asked.

Suzaku made a face. "Do I have to?"

"That depends. Do you want to learn how to read, or do you want other people to do it for you for the rest of your life?"

Suzaku smiled. "Do it for me."

"Suzaku…"

Their little girl sighed. "Master Sho is _boring…_"

"So are people who don't know how to write at all," Katara said. "Shoo."

Suzaku groaned in a very un-royal manner, and dragged her feet as she left. Zuko slid an arm around Katara's shoulders as they watched her go. Katara leaned against him and her hand found one of his pockets. Breath sighed out of them in the same moment. "So," Zuko said. "Twinkletoes."

"Could be a coincidence," Katara said.

"Or it could be destiny," Zuko said.

"You and your destiny…" She shook her head.

"I won't be laughed at by a woman who visited Aunt Wu on a repeat basis," Zuko said.

"She said I would marry a powerful bender! And she was right! Both times!"

He kissed her scalp. "Thank the sages for that." He leaned their heads together. "An Avatar would make a wonderful daughter-in-law-"

"Hey!"

"I'm merely saying that-the Avatar and the Fire Lord have always shared their fate," Zuko said. His eyes darkened. "And sometimes more than that, too."

Katara pursed her lips. "All the more reason to hope our son doesn't get his heart broken when he realizes she belongs to the whole world, not just him."

"Ah, so you admit it could be her?"

Her hands met her hips. "You're impossible." Her head tilted. "Next you'll tell me that this whole school was part of some elaborate scheme to find the next Avatar, just so that we could all be her bending masters again."

Zuko smiled. "Who, me?" He looked back toward the school. "You know why we built this place. It's a place for the world's children to learn together, to encourage international cooperation and peace. It's a place our family can be together." He sighed. "It's the only kind of empire worth fighting for."

Katara slid her arm around his waist. "Very noble."

"Thank you."

"It's also a good way to keep the other nations at bay, by keeping some of their children on Fire Nation soil."

"Well, there is that."

"And our students are certainly friendlier to Fire Nation interests than previous generations."

"We do keep them well-fed."

"And if you wanted to find the next Avatar-"

"Sweetness!" Zuko's good ear had pinked. "You make it sound like I laid out this school like Pai Sho board, planned all my moves, and executed a master plan." He took her hand. "We both know I'm not that clever."

"Uh huh."

"Iroh, though…" Zuko rocked on his toes. "He's a very intelligent man."

Katara squeezed his hand. "Well, it's a beautiful place," she said. "No conflict in eight years, happy kids, nice sunset over the ocean…a girl could get used to it."

He smiled. "You're so beautiful when you love the world."

_THE END_

∫∫∫

**Commentary:**

**Welcome to the Special Features portion of **_**Ozai's Vengeance.**_** Opinions expressed here are solely Fandomme's, and have not been approved by VIACOM, Nickelodeon, or Paramount, because she does not work for them and makes no profit from this story. Please feel free to disregard them, as they are surely the stuff of epic fannish wank.**

_**Ozai's Vengeance**_** (OV) is a very special story for me. It's probably the story I'm most proud of, because it's the hardest I've ever worked. I wrote it after taking stock of my previous stories and wondering how to fix the problems I saw there. I also wrote it after reading my share of Zutara and identifying a couple of commonalities: Katara's tendency to let others take control of her life via capture or arranged marriage or even slavery, and flagrant displays of Fire Nation wealth in a post-war era. Much of OV is about trying to invert all those characteristics: Katara insists on being included and has her own realm of influence and skill that extends beyond her capacity as a wife or mother, and the Fire Nation has real problems that stem from its past. (At least, that's what I was going for. You all can decide if I pulled it off.)**

**I also enjoyed having the chance to re-mix elements from canon into the story. There are numerous points at which Zuko and the others make reference to past events from canon in one way or another. Sometimes these are subtle, other times not so much. For example, the final battle chapter features Zuko resting a hand on his nephew's shoulder and staring at the sea, much as Zuko himself appears during the flashback sequences in "The Beach." **

**This story is all thanks to Mike and Bryan and the show's writers, to whom I am profoundly indebted. Without their world and their characters, none of this would be possible. So, guys, if you're reading, thanks. (And thanks for not suing me. I hope.) **

**It's also thanks to my husband. If you fell in love with Zuko, you fell in love with him. (But he's mine all miiiiiiiiine, and you can't have him. So there.)**

**You can expect most if not all of these elements that I personally invented within this series -- sky opals, secret passages, pneumatic locks, the Fire Nation vault, Ursa's house, stormbending -- in an upcoming Season 3 AU called **_**Stormbenders**_**, if and when I start it. **

_**Things I Didn't Do:**_

**There were several places I could have gone with this story that I didn't. Among them:**

**-Ending the story at Tetsushi. **

**-Kurzu as the Avatar. (Look for the clues. They're there.) **

**-Toppling the Fire Nation monarchy.**

**-Explaining in greater detail what happened to Mai, Ty Lee, and others. Someone asked me once to explain what had happened to Ty Lee: as far as I'm concerned, until canon tells me differently, she and her sisters have formed their own all-female traveling show, and it is quite popular in all three nations. **

_**Things You Might Still Be Wondering:**_

**-Suzaku is likely a waterbender. At least, Katara thinks she will be. **

**-Tom-Tom and Saya have chemistry. Tom-Tom goes on to become Kurzu's Iroh-figure, a playfully-sarcastic advisor.**

**-Kurzu may or may not fall for someone else once Pakak realizes the sacrifices inherent to being the Avatar, especially when Katara has a nice long conversation with him about what Aang's Avatar-hood did to their marriage.**

**-Pakak's name is the Inuit word for "one who is into everything."**

**-Sokka and Suki do adopt Sa Ming, and Sokka spoils her rotten. **

**-Iroh is still a stone fox, and is probably having lots of fun with Xiao Zhi. **

_**Oh, and About the Funshutsu:**_

**Rather than beginning a long, unwinnable quagmire of a war with insurgents originally from the Earth Kingdom, Zuko chose to let the White Lotus' Earth Kingdom branches know about it. All traces of the Funshutsu died within three years. **


End file.
